The Vanniyar Sangham and its Role in Tamil Nadu Reservation Policy

Due to the dominant of Brahmins, the Backward Class people were kept bottom of life educationally and economically. The Justice party and the Self-Respect Movement fought for the social justice vehemently. The follower of non-Brahmins movement Dr. S. Ramadoss formed an organization called “Vanniyar Sangham” to get equal opportunity in the government employment. Though, the Vanniyar Sangham was a caste based organization, it fought for the common man including Scheduled Class, Scheduled Tribes, Muslim and other minority people etc. Since beginning of the Vanniyar Sangham till Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) formation there had been long struggle for the social justice against the Tamil Nadu government for equal reservation. Due to the constant agitation of Vanniyar Sangham, the Tamil Nadu government accepted its demand only little bit and provided 20% reservation to the Vanniyar community in the folder of MBC category. Since there was not enough percentage of reservation to the Backward Class people in government employment the Vanniyar Sangham converted to a political organization to uplift the Backward Class people. This research paper reveals struggle of the Vanniyar Sangham for the social equality.