A memorial will be constructed in Villupuram district to honour the 21 people who were killed in police firing during an agitation by the Vanniyar community for reservation in 1987, chief minister MK Stalin announced in the Tamil Nadu assembly on Thursday.
“I made this commitment to honour the sacrifice of those who struggled for social justice during the by-elections for Vikravandi (an assembly constituency in Villupuram in 2019),” Stalin said, adding that his family too belongs to a socially backward community and that Tamil Nadu has always been at the forefront of social justice.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government passed an order in July to implement the 10.5% reservation for the Vanniyar community. The reservation Bill had been introduced by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government in February this year to appease its ally Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), a Vanniyar caste-based party, whose founder 81-year-old S Ramadoss was at the forefront of the agitation in the 1980s.
In the late 1970s, Ramadoss forged a coalition of Vanniyar community groups, which later came together under the umbrella of the Vanniyar Sangam (Federation of Vanniyars). It continues to be the parent body of the PMK. In the 1980s, the Sangam carried out protests demanding MBC status for Vanniyars. In 1987, when AIADMK’s MG Ramachandran (MGR) was chief minister, 21 people were killed in police firing during one such agitation. The agitation and ensuing violence had paralysed the entire state for at least a week.
MGR, at the time, was hospitalised in the United States. When he returned to Tamil Nadu, he held discussions with the group, but pass
The agitations were quelled when the DMK came back to power in 1989 and then chief minister M Karunanidhi created 20% reservation for MBCs. Vanniyars were among the 108 caste groups that were included in the reservation. But the community said that their representation and access to opportunities were still abysmal.
Ahead of the assembly elections in April this year, the PMK revived this decades-old demand and threatened to walk out of the alliance with AIADMK if their reservation demands weren’t met.
In December 2020, PMK cadre who were on a state-wide protest for the reservation, pelted stones at a train and brought traffic to a standstill as the Chennai Police sealed borders to restrict them from entering the city. Subsequently, then chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami announced that state-wide caste-based data must be collected, and before the model code of conduct came into effect, passed the 10.5% reservation Bill in jobs and education for Vanniyars.
