Chennai, March 5- K. Ramasubramanian, a senior representative of the AIADMK from Coimbatore, has appealed to party general secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa to give 10 per cent reservation to Brahmins in education and employment.
Ramasubramanian is a convenor of Brahmin Youth Federation of India (BYFI) and, in a formal letter to Jayalalithaa, he made six requests.
Apart from reservation to Brahmins, he said the BYFI wanted a welfare board for poor amongst upper castes, extension of government welfare schemes to poor Brahmins, minority status to Brahmins in the state, carrying out caste-based census in the state on priority and adequate representation in the legislative assembly.
“Spearheaded by anti-Brahminical groups and their affiliates for over 50 years, Brahmins have been meted out ill-treatment, denied social justice and marginalised for reasons no longer relevant today,” Ramasubramanian told Indiatoday.in.
He said there were only Rajalakshmi, an MLA from Mylapore in Chennai, and V. Maiytrayan, leader of the AIADMK in the Rajya Sabha, in the party’s list of Brahmin lawmakers.
He said Brahmins are being denied not only adequate political space but were also deliberately kept out of welfare schemes.
“Today, Brahmins are at the top of the discriminatory caste order. In the name of anti-Brahminism, the whole community has been subjected to humiliation,” he said.
He said Brahmins constituted about six per cent of the seven and a half crore population of the state. Out of which, 30 per cent (around 13 lakh) are economically backward and live below the poverty line.
“Many poor Brahmins do not have access to good education, healthcare and housing. It is a myth that all Brahmins are leading a comfortable life. Social welfare schemes are still elusive to the deserving poor among them,” he said.
Ramasubramanian is a public affairs consultant and an expert on Intellectual Property Rights.
He contested the Lok Sabha elections from Coimbatore on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket and lost.
He created a controversy that time by raking up the issue of paid news.
He lodged a complaint with the Press Council of India (PCI) against some leading Tamil dailies and forced an inquiry. Later, a high-level probe found proof in his allegations and submitted in a report.
In spite of stiff resistance from these newspapers against the release the report, the council published the report on its website after Justice Katju became the chairman.
-Indiatoday
