Chennai: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday urged state govt to provide jobs to the family members of the 21 “social justice martyrs” who were shot dead during the 1987 vanniyar reservation agitation. The statement comes in the wake of chief minister C Joseph Vijay handing over govt appointment orders, including posts such as junior assistants and office assistants to 31 individuals belonging to the families of those who lost their lives in a stampede in Karur during a TVK rally last year.Anbumani said that while there may be political and legal debates over such appointments, he viewed the decision positively on humanitarian grounds, as the affected families had lost their livelihoods. He argued that if govt employment could be provided to the families of victims of a rally stampede, in which the govt had no direct culpability, the families of those who died fighting for social justice and the welfare of the state had an even stronger claim.He recalled that the week-long agitation, which began on Sept 17, 1987, sought 20% separate reservation for the vanniyar community, proportional reservation for all communities based on population, and an increase in the reservation quota for Scheduled Castes to 22%. During the protest, police opened fire, killing 21 people.
