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Former Tamil Nadu EC blasts anti-casteism move

Former Tamil Nadu election commissioner K Malaisamy has justified his decision to found the All-People's Thevar Peravai (assembly), saying several retired officers of the Indian Administrative Service have floated or joined caste-based organisations to help their communities.

Malaisamy, who was also Tamil Nadu's home secretary when the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ruled the state, accused Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi of being anti-Thevar.

The suggestion to ban retired bureaucrats from joining caste-based organisations, made at the all-party meeting convened by the chief minister, is aimed at immobilising him, Malaisamy claimed.

Asserting that he had been unbiased throughout his 35-year-long career in the IAS, Malaisamy termed as baseless the charge that he had been promoted as home secretary because he is a Thevar like former chief minister J Jayalalitha's confidante Sasikala Natrajan.

He admitted that some people of his community had resorted to violence during the recent clashes in Ramanathapuram district. But he said some dalit leaders who are receiving official patronage were to be blamed for the clashes.

Malaisamy said he had been stressing the need to shun violence, except in self-defence, during his extensive tours of the violence-prone southern districts. His organisation is attempting to wean Thevar youths away from violence and channelise their energy in constructive ways, he said.

The Peravai has organised a "peaceful procession" from Madurai to Pasumpon during Thevar Jayanthi (the birth anniversary of Muthuramalinga Thevar, one of the greatest sons of the community, which the Thevars have now adopted as their annual day) on October 30. "We will desist from violence and it will be the responsibility of the state government to ensure our safety," Malaisamy said.

UNI

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