TN: Badagas protest seeking ST status for community

A group of Badagas, who predominantly live in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday placed a memorandum at the feet of a Mahatma Gandhi statue here to get their community into the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list.

Presently, the Badagas are classified as a backward class by the Tamil Nadu government. The community leaders have been petitioning the governments and higher courts for many years seeking ST status.

A petition placed in front of the Gandhi statue here on the 72nd Republic Day said more than 150 people from Badaga community had participated in the Indian freedom struggle along with Gandhi, including the famous Salt March to Dandi in Gujarat.

A group of Badaga people, led by Baduga Desa Party president Manjai Mohan, squatted at the statue on a hunger strike ''requesting Gandhi to prevail upon the powers that be'' to include the community in the ST list.

Former chief ministers of Tamil Nadu had made representations to the Centre for including the community in the list but to no avail so far, Mohan said.

Later, police detained Mohan and 14 others for attempting to stage a hunger strike without valid permission.