Social Justice Warrior Pariyar
Social Justice Warrior: Thanthai Periyar’s Struggle for All-India OBC, SC, and ST Reservation in Education | History behind Social Justice Day
Thanthai Periyar, also known as E. V. Ramasamy, was born to a wealthy merchant in Erode and lived in opulence. In his early days, he was attached to the Indian National Congress and the Khadi movement. He carried Khadi clothes on the streets and sold them, and moved his family to a simpler life.
Periyar was a powerful and wealthy man, but he gave up everything to fight for social justice. He resigned from his 26 positions, including that of Erode City Council president, to join the Congress party. Later, when he realized that the Congress was not committed to social justice, he left the party in 1925. He said, “If the nation was liberated without social justice, it would only benefit the dominant caste (Brahmins).”
S. Muttiah Mudaliar left the Congress party opposing the Congress’s pro-brahmin activites and join the Suppurayan cabinet. He was the first to introduce the new Caste Reservation Act in the Madras Provincial Assembly on 04.11.1927. The Suppurayan Cabinet issued a new order for caste reservation in 1927 (G.O. M.S. No 1021).
The Constitution enacted on January 26, 1950, by the intellectual revolutionary Ambedkar, provided for reservation in employment only, but there was no reservation in education.
Periyar’s voice spread not only to the ears of the Delhi Union government but also to the people about the necessity of reservation in education. Periyar’s agitation forced the Nehru government to come down on education reservation.
The first amendment was tabled in Parliament by Chief Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 10.05.1951. Including Education reservation, a total of 14 amendments were made in the Constitution through a single proposal. Nehru mentioned this in his introductory speech on the amendment. “Protests in Madras province lead us to amend the law”. Parliament passed it on 18.05.1951 with an overwhelming majority and made it law.
Article 16(4) ensured reservation only in case of employment. Reservation in education came only after the First Amendment, which ensured reservation for backward, scheduled, and minority communities across the country by the Union and State Governments. Through the efforts of Periyar and the DMK, the addition of Section 15(4) to the Indian Constitution paved the way for the Mandal Commission protests by periyarists and the implementation of all-India OBC reservation in education by V.P. Singh.
When Periyar passed away in 1973, Anaimuthu, A periyarist, continued the struggle for social justice of backward classes. Anaimuthu parted ways with the D.K and formed the Periyar Sama Urimai Kazhagam (Periyar Equal Rights Kazhagam) which took up reservation as their main agenda. Between 1976 and 1982, Anaimuthu conducted his campaign for reservation in education and employment in the Central government. In Bihar, their volunteers filled the prison as part of this demand. He took the struggle to New Delhi. The Mandal Commission was formed because of these pressures.
Anaimuthu made sure the Mandal Report was released in Parliament in 1980, thanks to which 50 per cent reservation for the Backward Classes was passed. But it was not implemented as promised, hence he began to meet Members of Parliament from 1981 onwards. In 1990, the then Prime Minister V P Singh announced in the Parliament that the recommendations of the Mandal Commission would be implemented Which provides 27% reservation for OBC’s on top of 23% reservation for SC and ST in India.
Indira Sawney challenged the Mandal Commission and government decision to implement the OBC Reservation by V.P.Singh in the Supreme Court. In 1992,
All India OBC reservation was implemented after Indira Sawney case was Closed with a provision that maximum reservation can be 50% of the educational seats or job vacancies and creamy layer of income of ₹8 lakhs per year. Anaimuthu’s untiring effort to implement the Mandal Commission report in this decade is a milestone in Indian history.
Periyar was a tireless advocate for the rights of the oppressed and backward people in the People’s Forum, touring all the nooks and corners of Tamil Nadu to the extent that he gave up his elite life. People say, “There was no place in Tamil Nadu where Periyar did not set his feet.” Periyar was an uncompromising opponent of the Brahminical intrigue against social justice reservation in the political arena. Social justice is the tool that Periyar used in his political arms to pave those paths against Brahminical intrigue and restore the social rights of the Tamil Nadu. Calling the social justice hero Thanthai Periyar’s birthday as Social Justice Day is a small thank-you to him for his lifelong struggles for the majority oppressed castes.
“One comes to school for training to acquire merit and skill. But if you need a qualification and skill even to study and get training, this is foolishness,” said Periyar. The ruling union government is keeping the meritorious children of our children by imposing merit tests like NEET to protect the power structures of Brahminism. Let us stand on the path of Periyar, who stood for social justice, and take a pledge to eliminate the anti-social justice selection criteria on this Social Justice Day.
