PMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP Anbumani Ramadoss was broken out with tears on Friday while speaking to his father Ramadoss, who is the founder of the PMK party, about the Tamil Nadu Government's decision to implement reservation for the Vanniyar community, which is the strong voter base for the party.

PMK party, which has been observing ties with the ADMK, has been pressing the ruling party to provide reservations for the Vanniyar community. As the state has been fast-approaching the assembly polls, PMK has been demanding the government to pass the reservation bill to benefit Vanniyars with the view of covering them ahead of the polls. 

With the key demand, the PMK had also staged protests against the ADMK government to pass the reservation and signaled that it will break up the ties with the ruling party if it fails to pay heed to its demand of reservation. Senior ADMK leaders had also met with PMK Chief Ramadoss and held a discussion about the alliance for the polls as PMK is a crucial ally for ADMK with which it can emerge strongly in the Northern districts of the state. Earlier, PMK had been demanding a 20% reservation quota in government jobs. 

Though there wasn't any assurance from the ADMK regarding PMK's demand, it was expected that Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami may announce the reservation ahead of the election dates. On Friday, hours ahead of the announcement of election dates by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Tamil Nadu Assembly had passed the Vanniyar's Reservation Bill. According to reports, the bill provides 10.5% internal reservation to Vanniyars within the Most Backward Classes category. 

Passing the bill, the government said, "There have been consistent representations from the Most Backward Class of Vanniakula Kshatriya for providing separate reservation for them in admission to educational institutions and in appointments or posts in the services under the State as they could not compete with the other castes and communities included in the list of Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities so as to get their due and legitimate share of such reservation benefits". 

It further states, "The Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission examined the demand made by various communities to provide for internal reservation within Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities for various categories and recommended to the government that internal reservation may be given for three categories- Most Backward Classes -Vanniyar - 10.5%, Most Backward Classes, and Denotified Communities - 7%, and Most Backward Classes -2.5%."

Tamil Nadu Minister for Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Valarmathi had introduced the bill in the assembly on Friday while Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Panneerselvam had proposed the bill following which it was passed in the assembly, hours ahead of the announcement of the elections dates and schedule by the Election Commission of India. As the government has passed their demand of providing reservations for the Vanniyar community, the members of the PMK party have been welcoming the announcement. 

In line with that, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss had broken into tears by saying that their 40-years-of sacrifice had won. He was speaking to his father Ramadoss over the phone and said, "They are giving 10.5% reservation. The bill has been passed. You have worked for it for forty years and it had finally got done. This is the first step, next we will get more reservations (for Vanniyars). It wasn't an easy fight for 40 years and how many sacrifices were done".  The video of his teary speech has been getting widely shared across social media with many PMK members celebrating the announcements by distributing sweets. 

The PMK party and other unions working for the Vanniyar community have been protesting for many years to get the reservation and as the polls neared in the state, PMK had again brought up its demand of providing reservation for Vanniyars. The government has passed the reservation bill after many episodes of talks and protests and as the bill was finally passed the political observers say that it will a political breakthrough for PMK as the party would display itself as the true representative of the Vanniyar community that has a larger voter base in the Northern Tamil Nadu. 

It must be noted that Tamil Nadu currently has 69% of reservations of which 20% of the reservation is awarded for the Most Backward Community, which has around 109 castes including 68 castes of Denotified communities. On Friday, the ECI has announced that Tamil Nadu will go to the polls on April 6, 2021, and the results would be announced on May 2, during which the state will know who will be the next Chief Minister. On Saturday, Anbumani met Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had thanked him for providing a reservation for Vanniyars.

வன்னியர்களின் இட ஒதுக்கீடு -அப்பாவுடன் எமோஷனலான அன்புமணி இராமதாஸ் pic.twitter.com/OF3XgpTqy8

— 🔥குன்னத்தூர் ஆறுமுகம்🔥 (@kunnathuraaru) February 26, 2021