LS polls: PMK's Anbumani Ramadoss Says Party Will Push For Caste-Based Census In Tamil Nadu

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India]: Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) President Anbumani Ramadoss on Wednesday said his party will push for caste-based enumeration in the next census and for notification of Tamil as an official language.

For the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the PMK has allied with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and will contest 10 Lok Sabha seats in the April 19 general elections.

Ramadoss, who was the Union Health Minister in the Manmohan Singh ministry from (2004-2009) as a part of the UPA government said that the PMK is based on the ideology of social justice.

Speaking to media, Ramadoss, who is part of the Vanniyar community said, "PMK is based on the ideology of social justice. We want caste-based enumeration in the next census which we will be reiterating with the Modi government."

Ramadoss father and founder of the PMK party, S Ramadoss has been striving for long to secure separate reservations for the Vanniyar community.

Meanwhile, Anbumani Ramadoss said that his party will also seek to bring education back into state list of the Constitution. He said , "Five of the subjects during the emergency had been converted from the state list to the concurrent list, including education. Because of that, issues like NEET have come up. We will try to bring it back to the state list..."

"We would like to bring petrol and diesel into the GST because today nearly 52 per cent of one litre of petrol goes for taxes. If it comes under the GST, a burden of Rs 20 will be reduced...," said Ramadoss.

"On language issues, we'd like to give the official status of all 22 languages in the 8th schedule... Tamil should be the official language or the spoken language in the Tamil High Court," he told media.

He also criticized opposition leader Edappadi Palaniswami for likening the PMK to 'Vedanthangal birds', a jibe intended to hit out at the party's history of switching sides between the AIADMK and the DMK.

"We are not Vendanthangal birds, we are Vendanthangal sanctuary. We will protect whoever comes to us," the PMK leader said.

Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary is a protected area located in the Madurantakam taluk of the Chengalpattu District in the state of Tamil Nadu. It attracts a lot of birds from different parts of the world during the migratory season.

Meanwhile, last week, Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai and Anbumani Ramadoss signed a seat-sharing agreement in Thailapuram, Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"There is a hatred for the parties that ruled Tamil Nadu for the past 60 years. The people are eagerly awaiting a change in the State. To fulfil that wish of the people, the PMK has taken this decision to align with the NDA," the PMK President said.

PMK contested 23 seats in the AIADMK alliance in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election and won five seats by securing 4.04 per cent.

During the 2019 general elections, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Secular Progressive Alliance, which comprised INC, VCK, MDMK, CPI, CPI(M), IUML, MMK, KMDK, TVK, AIFB, registered a landslide victory by winning 38 of the 39 seats.

Tamil Nadu will see voting on all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Phase 1 on April 19 and the counting of votes will be held on June 4.

In 2019, the DMK won 23 Lok Sabha seats with 33.2 per cent vote share, Congress bagged 8 seats with 12.9 per cent vote and CPI won two seats in Tamil Nadu. CPI(M) got a seat, IML won 1 seat and independents were elected on two seats.

The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country will be held in seven phases starting April 19. Nearly 97 crore voters are eligible to cast votes in the general election.