Elected representatives of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, former State unit presidents, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretaries from the State, working presidents and other senior leaders participated in a consultative meeting on Monday, September 11, 2023, to discuss the party’s strategy and action points in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The meeting was presided over by TNCC president K.S. Alagiri.
This meeting was part of series of such conclaves organised by the T.N. unit of the Congress, such as the recent zonal meeting that was organised in Kumbakonam of booth committee, Union and Panchayat-level leaders recently.
Mr. Alagiri said a resolution has been passed calling for a caste-wise census to be undertaken in Tamil Nadu.
“In the issue of reservations, there is a bias. Reservations have been implemented to create equality and representation for communities which have been historically disadvantaged. This is what Mahatama Gandhi, Thanthai Periyar and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar have said. A caste-wise census can be used to provide representations based on the population of each community. The AICC has also called for the same. We urge Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to do a caste-wise census,” he said.
Mr. Alagiri added that reservations based on data that governments have at present, are not completely reliable. “A caste-wise census will make data accurate, and reservations for some communities can even increase,” he said.
Mr. Alagiri also opposed BJP state president K. Annamalai’s recent comment about ‘Nandi giving away’ to enable people, who were prevented from entering the temple because of their caste, to see the deity at a temple of Lord Shiva. “That is wrong. Our opinion is that Nandi should not exist blocking the view. The Gods are common to everyone. In Madurai temples, (late activists and freedom fighters) Vaidyanatha Iyer and Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar enabled people enter the temple....while you were the Nandi then and we removed it. Don’t obfuscate history,” he said.
Mr. Alagiri added that the proposed ‘One Nation, One Election’ could not be implemented in India without consulting with the democratically-elected State governments.
