Vanniyars are the backward among the Most Backward Communities, Ramadoss tells Madras HC

The PMK leader justified the 10.5% internal reservation given to them within the 20% meant for MBCs

Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S. Ramadoss has told Madras High Court that Vanniakula Kshatriyas are the most backward among the Most Backward Communities (MBCs) and therefore, the State legislature had provided 10.5% internal reservation in education and government employment, to help them rise from the depth of backwardness.

He had made the submission in a counter affidavit, filed through his counsel K. Balu, to a batch of cases filed in the court challenging the constitutionality of a law passed by the State legislature, just hours before the model code of conduct came into force in February this year, providing internal reservation within the 20% meant for MBCs.

Claiming to have been fighting for the cause since the 1980s, the party leader said it was due to his consistent efforts that the Vanniakula Khastriya (including Vanniar, Vanniya, Vannia Gounder, Gounder or Kander, Padayachi, Palli and Agnikula Kshatriya) communities were now able to seize the opportunities of reservation commensurate to their population. He contended that the Vanniyakula Khastriyas were unable to reap the benefits of reservation all along because they could not compete with other communities falling within the much larger 50% reservation meant for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) or even within the smaller 20% reservation meant for MBCs and Denotified Communities (DNCs).