Pattali Makkal Katchi’s Samaya Samudhaya Nallinakka Maanadu’ (Religious and Community Harmony Rally), held in Kumbakonam on Sunday, marks a shift from the party’s earlier controversial approach of mobilising the Vanniyar community invoking caste-pride and alienating other communities, and instead using a ‘caste census’ as a rallying point to garner support from every community, including the Scheduled Castes.This shift in strategy could be explained due to consistent counter-mobilisations against the party since 2016 State Assembly election, more recently in the Lok Sabha election in which party president Anbumani Ramadoss’s wife Sowmiya Anbumani, lost by 21,000-odd votes after electors in Harur, a SC-dominated assembly segment, helped pip DMK over the line.Though the speakers used loaded caste-coded language and referenced the controversial PMK leader late ‘Kaduvetti’ Guru, known for his incendiary speeches, the public rally, which featured speakers from every caste and religious community, is being seen as an attempt to open a new chapter in PMK’s history.According to party spokesperson K. Balu, it could be said the PMK was trying to reach out to every community by promising to speak for their rights as demanding 10.5% reservation for Vanniyars (within the Most Backward Classes) alone was never the intention of the party.“We have conducted such public rallies for harmony among communities, but you could say that we are turning a new chapter. The caste-survey/census is the need of the hour. Every time we demanded 10.5% reservations for Vanniyars, we were told that State government doesn’t have powers or that the 10.5% reservations would reduce representation of Vanniyars. So, we are demanding a caste-survey so that all communities can be benefited,” he told The Hindu.In his view, the DMK used the demand for 10.5% reservation for Vanniyars within MBC to counter-mobilise other communities, which resulted in a set back for the PMK electorally. “But, now that Bihar and Telangana have conducted it, Tamil Nadu should also follow suit and provide reservations to all deserving communities according to their population,” he said.Published - February 26, 2025 12:09 am IST