Raking up the issue of ownership of panchami lands, which have been lost by Dalits in many parts of Tamil Nadu, Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) chief coordinator Seeman has sought their retrieval.
Mr. Seeman recently claimed that successive governments helmed by Dravidian parties were responsible for the loss of the panchami lands. “Where have the 12 lakh acres given by the British to the Dalits in Madras State gone? Most of the lands were lost during the Dravidian ‘social justice’ governments in the last 55 years. What are the steps taken by the State government to retrieve the lands? How much has been given back to them?” he asked.
He demanded the status of the committees set up by the government to oversee the retrieval of these lands and asked why the Dravidian parties were refusing to speak up about the issue. Explaining why the NTK decided to flag the issue, a source said the party decided to raise issues that have been unresolved for a long time. “The party has decided that it would be better to speak about specific issues instead of focussing on broad ideological issues as we have been doing.
The panchami land protests will start from next month. The party is currently focussing on the Parandur airport issue, where people of the area have launched protests against proposed acquisition of lands. The party chief will visit each district and speak on the issue of panchami lands from next month,” the source said.
