News Tamil Nadu

VCK leader Vanni Arasu accused of misusing SC benefits after converting to Christianity

November 10, 2021
The Commune

A case of alleged falsification of religion has cropped up in Tamil Nadu after allegations were levelled against VCK leader Vanni Arasu for illegally contesting from a constituency reserved for Hindu Scheduled Caste despite being a Christian.

This controversy came to light after pictures of funeral of Vanni Arasu’s father Rathinasamy 2 came to light on social media. The pictures posted by him show that he was buried as per Christian customs.

Vanni Arasu is a member of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, an ally of DMK. He contested from Schedule Caste (SC) reserved constituency of Vanur in 2021 Assembly Election and lost. He had won from the same constituency in 2016 Assembly elections. He is known for being rabidly anti-Hindu.

According to HinduPost, during a live debate in 2020 Vanni Arasu had said “We take pride in our continuous campaign against Hinduism and Hindutva”.

In another debate, he said that Hindu Dharma should be abolished and it will be achieved only by abolishing caste, the Hindu Post reported.

During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, he had arbitrarily introduced the Annadana scheme for Covid-19 patients wherein Arasu had demanded that non-vegetarian soups should be offered to the patients and that beef soup would be a better option as it will increase the immunity in all government hospitals.

As per the law, those who have converted from Hinduism to another religion are not eligible to avail benefits meant for Scheduled Caste.  

The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 states that any person who professes a religion different from Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism shall cease to be a member of the Scheduled Caste (SC).

Recently in February 2021, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha  said that as per the Constitution of India and Indian statute, Hindu persons eligible for reservation benefits, like those belonging to Scheduled Castes, cannot avail the same benefits if they convert to Christianity or Islam.

VCK chief Thol.Thirumavalavan is also a suspected to be a converted Christian and in June, advocacy organisation Legal Rights Protection Forum had written to authorities seeking to disqualify Thirumavalavan as he had frankly admitted in an interview that he follows Christianity and that his family often attends Christian events.

To give further evidence, his sister was buried as per Christian customs, and when confronted with this he feigned ignorance and said that he didn’t know until her death that she followed Christianity.

Thirumavalavan had also called for the destruction of Chidambaram Nataraja and Madurai Meenakshi temples and had organised a conference to “Uproot Sanatana Dharma” in which anti-Hindu forces including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin pledged to uproot Hindu Dharma.

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