A Little Bit Of Federal Itch

He reaffirmed support for the LTTE— after MDMK chief Vaiko’s arrest—but did not catch anybody’s attention, least of all chief minister Jayalalitha’s. But when he recently concluded that a little state could be carved out of the northern districts of Tamil Nadu, which is where the PMK’s votebank among the MBC Vanniyar community is concentrated, Jaya finally decided to sit up and take notice. She described the idea of Tamil Nadu’s caste-based bifurcation as a dangerous one.

Ramadoss has, meanwhile, said that as long as they were part of a large state, the Vanniyars, who form 15 per cent of the state’s population, could never have enough representation in the assembly or, more importantly, throw up a chief minister. Consequently, the PMK’s caste affiliate, Vanniyar Sangam, passed a resolution for "the creation of a new state from the northern districts of Tamil Nadu". The chief minister has responded by saying that "those who propagate secession should be identified and driven out of public life".