At the recent DMK public meeting at T.N.Paalayam, there was a huge controversy as it was alleged that Anthiyur Selvaraj, a DMK district secretary, was made to sit below the stage as his name was announced, while DMK chief MK Stalin had been comfortably seated on the stage.
Ironically, Stalin had rattled on and on throughout the meeting about how the recent announcement of a statue and memorial for Pollan, a former assembly member and a prominent leader belonging to the Arunthathiyar community had been announced back in 2001 by himself in a party meeting at Sankagiri, and that the ADMK was merely implementing it. He also said that it was only during the then DMK government headed by the then Chief Minister Karunanidhi, that the Arundhatiyar’s internal reservation was announced on January 23, 2008.
While all of these had been going on, Anthiyur Selvaraj had still been seated on the ground below the stage, waiting for the announcement of his name as the party’s district secretary. This earned Stalin a lot of backlash on social media with a lot of netizens alleging blatant untouchability.
With this matter coming to light, Ma Venkatesan, the Chairman of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis took cognizance of the issue and has filed a complaint against the DMK chief for practicing untouchability.
In his letter to the National Commission for Scheduled Caste, Ma Venkatesan has asked for an immediate enquiry and action against MK Stalin for his ‘offending, hurtful and disgusting act’.
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