MK Stalin, in presence of Akhilesh Yadav, unveils memorial of former PM in Chennai
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Monday unveiled a statue of former prime minister VP Singh in Chennai's Presidency College to commemorate his 15th death anniversary.
Singh is credited with the implementation of the Mandal Commission report, which paved the way for 27% reservation for OBCs in central government jobs.
The unveiling of Singh's status gains significance in the backdrop of the importance that caste census and OBC (other backward class) politics have gained in the political narrative across the country.
The event was attended by Singh's family members and Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, among others.
Sources told ET that JD(U) and RJD, the leading political parties of Bihar which came to existence riding on the Mandal wave, were not invited for the function, and it was only SP leader Yadav who was invited. Exemplifying the vagaries of politics, SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav had become opposed to Singh in the later years, and had gone with his rival Chandrashekhar.
At Monday's event, Stalin praised Singh, calling it a duty of his party DMK to honour the guardian of social justice.
Tamil Nadu provides 69% reservation in the state.
Stalin had promised in April this year that he would install a statue of Singh in the state. He said that if UP was Singh's mother state, Tamil Nadu was his father state.
Stalin also urged the Centre to take up caste-wise census along with the delayed national population census to ensure proportionate reservation for the deserving.
