In a country where certain communities and political parties organize themselves and clamour for reservation in jobs and education, the Devendra Kula Vellalar community from Tamil Nadu have been demanding for decades to get themselves delisted from the Scheduled Caste.
The Devendra Kula Vellalars who identify themselves as a wetland farming community have been asking for regrouping of Pallar, Pannadi, Kudumbar, Kaaladi, Kadaiyar, Mooppar/Vadhiriyar and Devendrakulathar under one title – ‘Devendra Kula Vellalar’ and also removal of the community from Scheduled Caste.
Parties like Puthiya Tamilagam headed by Dr. Krishnaswamy, a Devendra Kula Vellalar himself has been at the forefront fighting for the cause for several decades.
To add fuel to their campaign, the Devendra Kula Vellalars stormed Twitter on Sunday (June 6) with the hashtag #பட்டியல்_வெளியேற்றமே_விடுதலை (Getting removed from SC list will be our ultimate freedom).
The hashtag saw more than 1.5 lakh tweets (as of 06 30 PM) and was one of the top trends.
On December 4, 2020, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced that the State Government would be recommending to the Central Government to include the seven Scheduled Caste sub-sects — Pallar, Kudumbar, Kadaiyar, Pannadi, Kaaladi, Vadhiriyar, and Devendrakulathar — in the Devendrakula Vellalar community. However, he said that the Devendra Kula Vellalars would continue to stay in Scheduled Caste list considering their current socio-economic status. Though Dr. Krishnasamy welcomed the announcement, he said that the ultimate aim was to get delisted from the Scheduled Caste.
Accordingly, The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021, was presented in the Lok Sabha to regroup the seven Scheduled Caste sub-castes — Pallar, Kudumbar, Kadaiyar, Pannadi, Kaaladi, Vadhiriyar, and Devendrakulathar — as ‘Devendrakula Vellalar’ community.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had come to Chennai on February 14, 2021 had said that the long standing demand of the community has been fulfilled.
Earlier in January 2021, several thousand people belonging to the Devendra Kula Vellalar community took out a massive procession in Madurai headed by Dr. K. Krishnasamy, demanding to be delisted from the Scheduled Caste.
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