Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s main Ambedkarite get together, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), is trying to contest the Maharashtra meeting polls and to ask its INDIA bloc ally, the Congress, to provide it a number of seats because it pushes to develop past the southern state and undertaking get together chief Thol Thirumavalavan as a nationwide chief.
S.S. Balaji, a VCK MLA from Thiruporur, instructed ThePrint the get together would even take into account contesting alone to exhibit its power if it didn’t get seats from the Congress. He stated Thirumavalavan will attempt to meet Congress leaders throughout a go to to Mumbai subsequent week to fulfill cadres. The get together continues to be understanding Thirumavalavan’s schedule for his Mumbai go to.
“We will likely be having discussions with the INDIA alliance. We are going to attempt to contest and positively discipline candidates in Maharashtra,” Balaji instructed ThePrint.
By contesting in Maharashtra, the VCK will likely be getting right into a crowded political panorama with at the least three small Dalit events—the Republican Occasion of India (Athawale), the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Bahujan Samaj Occasion (BSP)—already vying for the state’s Scheduled Caste votes together with the larger events.
The VCK, which has recently been asserting itself in its house state by pushing for the next stake in power-sharing with the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), needs to develop past Tamil Nadu primarily to construct Thirumavalavan’s standing as a nationwide chief of not simply Dalits, however all backward lessons. “Now, everybody has come to grasp that there’s a want for a frontrunner who can stand for the downtrodden folks. Earlier, folks had been in search of a nationwide chief solely within the north. They checked out Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, and so on. as leaders for the SC and OBC communities,” Balaji stated.
“However now, each SCs and OBCs have began seeing a national-level chief in our chief (Thirumavalavan),” he added.
Occasion leaders in Chennai say the VCK already has a fundamental cadre base in Maharashtra, with a unit in Mumbai for over a decade. The state goes to the polls on 20 November.
In keeping with the get together’s Mumbai unit in cost, Solomon Raja, VCK’s presence in Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad has grown with many followers of Chandrashekhar Azad’s Bhim Military transferring to its fold.
Additionally learn: How VCK gained with massive margins in Tamil Nadu LS polls when Dalit events in different states drew a clean
Enlargement past Tamil Nadu
Occasion leaders say the VCK can be trying to develop its footprint within the southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala the place it already has a powerful presence.
In keeping with H.V. Chandrashekar, the get together’s Karnataka unit chief, the VCK had chosen a number of seats in Karnataka for the 2023 Meeting elections however dropped the plan to contest upon Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.Ok. Shivakumar’s request.
Thirumavalavan campaigned for the Congress in Karnataka within the 2023 Meeting elections and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Because the VCK seems to develop its footprint, its Kerala unit organised a two-day South Indian conclave of Dalit-Adivasi Organisations in Kottayam on October 13 and 14.
Many Dalit-Adivasi organisations, together with the Kerala Dalit Federation (KDF) and Kerala Sambhava Sabha, participated within the occasion. Congress MPs Kodikkunnil Suresh and Ok. Francis George, former Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MP E.T. Muhammed Basheer and the Nationwide Confederation of Dalit & Adivasi Organisations (NACDAOR) chairman, Ashok Bharathi, additionally took half within the conclave.
The occasion mentioned how they believed the Supreme Court docket’s latest name for the sub-categorisation of SC and ST communities was unconstitutional. The organisations additionally determined to carry the same nationwide conclave in Delhi on January 24 and 25.
“Dalits are heterogenous. The language, tradition, apparel and even pores and skin tone differ from state to state. However the way in which the neighborhood is handled stays the identical in all places all through historical past,” Thol Thirumavalavan stated on the conclave on Sunday.
Occasion leaders stated they plan to achieve out to folks throughout states.
“We’re first attempting to affix fingers with socially energetic organisations and folks in every state. Straightaway, we are able to attain folks,” stated Balaji. He added that the get together will organise liquor eradication drives in Kerala, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh within the subsequent two to 3 weeks, much like the convention it held in Tamil Nadu’s Kallukurichi final week.
The occasion in Ulundurpet was attended by members of the DMK, Congress, CPI, CPM, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), IUML, and Tamilaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK). 1000’s of girls additionally took half within the programme.
Based in 1982, the VCK, or the Liberation Panther Occasion, has 4 MLAs within the Tamil Nadu Meeting.
The get together, a member of the ruling DMK-led alliance, made its most vital victory within the 2024 Lok Sabha polls when it gained the 2 seats it contested and secured a vote share of two.25 % in Tamil Nadu. It was additionally recognised as a state get together following the elections.
Although termed a ‘Dalit get together’ up to now, the VCK has turn out to be extra vocal in Tamil Nadu and has criticised the ruling DMK on many points together with the continued Samsung employee’s strike in Chennai and issues of regulation and order.
Forward of the Lok Sabha polls, the get together had approached the Election Fee for a typical image to contest in southern states. Nevertheless, the ballot panel rejected this request, saying the get together didn’t have the required vote share.
Occasion leaders say they’ve appreciable affect and the get together’s votes had been going to alliance companions in lots of constituencies. “The actual power of the VCK on the bottom is way a lot increased,” claimed Balaji.
Balasingam, VCK’s Andhra-Telangana in cost, stated the get together focuses on the native inhabitants and their points and never simply Tamil-speaking folks in any state.
For instance, in Kerala, the VCK continually struggles to make sure fundamental facilities for the working class. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, it’s focussing on what it calls the “anti-people stand” of the Telugu Desam Occasion (TDP) and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Occasion (YSRCP). “We don’t have many Dalit organisations in Telangana and Andhra. So we’re realising now we have loads of scope right here,” Balasingam instructed ThePrint.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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