DPI defends Jaya in Dalit land Issue

Madurai, Aug 11 (UNI) Defending AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in the Siruthavur land issue, Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) General Secretary Thol Thirumavalavan today described the allegations that the former Chief Minister had appropriated Dalit lands were politically motivated.

''It is a plain drama being enacted by the DMK and its allies to gain political mileage'', he told a questioner at a press conference here. The CPI(M) continuing the propaganda that the DPI was acting against the interests in the issue was condemnable, he added.

Questioning the motive of the parties raking it up, he wondered why they were keeping a studied silence on the alienation of nearly 12.5 lakh acres of 'Panchami Land' given to Dalits with statutory protection during the British rule.

A DPI panel, headed by him, which had visited Siruthavur near Mallapuram on the East Coast, found that the bungalow, occasionally used by Ms Jayalalithaa was not built on the 53 acres of land allotted to Dalits way back in 1967, he clarified.

Further, in the last 30 years the lands have changed several hands, including the families of former Indian cricket captain K Srikkanth and the renowned music Director Ilayaraja, he said.

However, he hastened to add that the DPI demanded that the lands in question be retrieved and handed over to the allottees and stringent action be initiated against all those found guilty. The Commission of Inquiry constituted to probe the issue from 1967 to bring out the whole truth, he said.

The DPI leader also sought for setting up a separate Commission of Inquiry to go into the alienation of panchami lands throughout the state.

Responding to a question, he said the party legislators would raise in the Assembly the issue of social justice in institutions like the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) at Chennai, not implementing reservation in appointments for the last 35 years, and Deemed universities in the state.

The DPI would also press the DMK Government to fill up backlog vacancies for Dalits, he said adding that the previous Karunanidhi regime had brought out a White Paper on the issue.

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