DMK has no right to claim legacy over OBC reservations, says AIADMK

The Opposition AIADMK on Saturday welcomed the Supreme Court judgment upholding the 27 per cent reservation in all India Quota seats for medical admissions and claimed this was a victory for its sustained struggle on the reservation and quota issues.

The AIADMK coordinator O Paneerselvam and leader of the opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami in a detailed statement recalled the contribution of the AIADMK party in filing legal petitions on the issue and emphasized the reservation policies brought in by the late AIADMK leaders M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly setting precedence at all India level. AIADMK leaders also vowed to oppose the 10 per cent EWS quota.

The AIADMK government had moved the court against the non-provision of 27 per cent OBC quota in all India medical admissions and the Madras High Court had in July 2020 directed the union government to form a panel and decide further, the AIADMK leaders said.

Read more: Important victory for DMK: Stalin welcomes SC order upholding validity of OBC quota in NEET counselling

“This is a victory for the AIADMK's sustained struggle and consistency on the issue,” the AIADMK leaders said. OPS and EPS also alleged that the DMK was trying to rob the issue and its publicity. Despite enjoying power with the union governments for more than 17 years the DMK did nothing much on the subject. It was the AIADMK that increased the backward class reservation from 31 per cent to 50 per cent during the rule of MGR in1980. Subsequently, former CM J Jayalalithaa tabled an Assembly bill in 1990, urging the central government to increase OBC quota in jobs from the then announced 27 per cent to 50 per cent, the statement noted.

The statement also recalled that Jayalalithaa as the champion of social justice as she enacted legislation allowing 69 per cent reservation in the state and also published the same in the Ninth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.