DMK workers were insulted with caste abuses by AIADMK and PMK: MP Thol Thirumavalavan

The newly-elected MP, in an interview to a Tamil channel said that electoral alliances can change according to situation.
DMK workers were insulted with caste abuses by AIADMK and PMK:  MP Thol Thirumavalavan
DMK workers were insulted with caste abuses by AIADMK and PMK: MP Thol Thirumavalavan
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Days after his win from the Chidambaram (Reserved) constituency, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said that DMK partymen could have worked harder in his constituency in the run-up to the polls, but circumstances prevented them from doing so.

Speaking to Thambi Tamilarasan of the Tamil TV channel Puthiya Thalaimurai, the Dalit leader said that the DMK workers who were canvassing for votes in Chidambaram before the elections were insulted by the AIADMK and PMK workers using caste names.

“There is no proof whatsoever to say that DMK men worked against me. But we can say that they did not work hard and the reason for this is that they were humiliated to that level using caste. Tolerating all the insults thrown at them, the DMK functionaries worked for me in Chidambaram,” he said adding that however in some areas, the DMK men were open with me and said that they will ensure votes from those pockets but the focus must be to not let any violence break out in those regions.

Explaining further about the logic of protecting the region from incidents of violence, Thirumavalavan said, “They just did not want any violence to crop up in any of the constituencies because they knew that such incidents would definitely divide the electorate into Dalits and non-Dalits.”

Thirumavalavan won from Chidambaram by a slim margin of 3,219 votes against the AIADMK candidate Chandrasekar. The contest was so tough that the leads kept oscillating every hour since the minute counting began in the sensitive constituency. Finally it was after the district collector intervened that Thirumavalavan was declared winner from the seat.

Commenting on his victory in Chidambaram, Thirumavalavan said that it was the victory of BJP at the Centre that continued to bother him. “Though I won, what worries me the most is that who shouldn’t have won the mandate at the centre ultimately won. Who would save this country? This worry is more than the happiness that I get from my victory and our alliance partner DMK’s victory,” he said.

There have been widespread criticisms from all the quarters that the margin of Thirumavalavan’s victory could have been wider had he contested on DMK’s Rising Sun symbol, much like his party colleague D Ravikumar in Villupuram. Responding to those criticisms, Thirumavalavan said that it was a conscious decision to not contest in DMK’s symbol and to instead contest in his own independent symbol in Chidambaram.

In the interview, Thirumavalavan also clarified his stance on electoral alliances in Tamil Nadu. His comments on how parties choose alliance partners based on situations had ruffled quite some feathers in Tamil Nadu’s political circles.

Standing by his take that electoral alliances are indeed based on the situation before the polls, Thirumavalavan said, “Assembly election is different and parliamentary election is different. That is what I said. We were there with DMK since 2016 Assembly elections but still DMK proceeded to hold talks with PMK first for the general elections. So every party decides alliances based on winning chances during elections. That is not wrong.” He also reiterated that VCK will not be a part of the side which has PMK in it.  

PMK, a political party that favours a dominant caste in Tamil Nadu, the Vanniyars, has been accused several times of inciting caste-based violence in north Tamil Nadu. The party’s unofficial stance is against the VCK, which is a pro-Dalit party.

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