Tamil Nadu legislature party leaders to meet on November 12

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday decided to convene a meeting of legislature party leaders, to be chaired by chief minister M K Stalin, on November 12 to discuss the future course of action on the Supreme Court verdict upholding the validity of the Constitutional amendment that provides 10% quota for economically weaker sections among forward castes. DMK general secretary Duraimurugan said the party would move the apex court with a review petition challenging the verdict.
A government press release said the reservation for EWS was against the principle of social justice. “CM M K Stalin has sent a letter to the legislature party leaders to give suggestions on the future course of action to be taken.
Two representatives from each party have been invited to attend the meeting,” the release said. The meeting will be held at Namakkal Kavignar Maligai in the secretariat at 10. 30 am.
Soon after the majority verdict in the court, Stalin on Monday said it was a setback to the century-long crusade for social justice. He appealed to all parties to get together to fight the social injustice called EWS quota and carry the struggle forward. Barring the Congress and the CPM, the DMK allies had opposed the EWS quota introduced by the Modi government in 2019.
Duraimurugan said the review petition would be filed to protect social justice of the 82% SC/STs and OBCs in the country, to safeguard the basic structure of the Constitution and uphold the reservation policy provided in the Mandal Commission report.
“The party placed strong arguments before the court but the verdict of the five-member Bench was contrary to the judgments of the larger benches, including Kesavananda Bharati and Indira Sawhney cases,” he said. The golden lines quoted in various SC judgments so far was that a Constitutional amendment should not destroy the identity and fundamental aspects of the Constitution.
The judgments have long established that no amendment should be made against equality guaranteed in the Constitution, Duraimurugan said. While AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami maintained silence for the second day after the verdict, former chief minister O Panneerselvam said the state government should go for an appeal.
The AIADMK had opposed and walked out in both Houses of Parliament when the Bill was introduced in January 2019. In Rajya Sabha, MP A Navaneethakrishnan had said that 10% EWS quota was without quantifiable data and it was in violation of the basic structure of the Constitution. AIADMK Lok Sabha MP M Thambidurai had said that EWS quota for general category would only create confusion and lead to corruption andmay not be implemented properly.
In a statement, TNCC chief KS Alagiri said that reservation did not belong to any section but to humanity and therefore, the party wholeheartedly welcomed it. The Congress-led UPA regime made an attempt to introduce the EWS quota in 2005-06 and even got a Bill ready in 2014, while the BJP government took five years, he said. CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan said the party had already supported the Bill when it was introduced in the Parliament. “We see the Constitutional amendment as that of one for the poor and labourers,” he said. TMC leader G K Vasan welcomed the verdict.
MNM vice-president A G Mourya said the crusade for social justice would have to be strengthened further. He said reservation was not a poverty alleviation program. The policy of reservation was won after years of struggle to prioritize those who were denied education and subjected to inequalities in education and employment. It was ridiculous to provide reservation instead of implementing welfare schemes to upgrade the lives of the economically weaker sections, Mourya said.