Tamil Nadu voters has no choice except electing DMK or AIADMK ,these parties are nothing but deep sea and the devil.  The  Choice is yours!.  SC/ST should consider parties headed by SC/ST  before casting their votes  .  Such parties are many we have to choose them and we should caste our vote only to VCK(Viduthalai siruthaikal  Katchi,Puthiya thamilagam,Republican party of India and Bahujan samaj party(BSP)Puratchi partham,etc, at No cost our vote should be given to Dravidian parties or any other national and regional parties.

      தமிழக மக்கள் AIADMK அல்லது DMK இவை இரண்டில் ஏதாவுது ஒன்றை மட்டும்  தேர்ந்து எடுக்க வேண்டிய கட்டாயம், இது ஆழமான கடலுக்கும் ,சாத்தனுக்கும் இடையில் மாட்டிகொண்டு தத்தளிக்கும் ஒருவனுடைய நிலைமை போன்றது.  SC/ST மக்கள் இந்த தேர்தலில் SC/ST தலைமையில்  உள்ள கட்சிகளான புதிய தமிழகம் ,விடுதலை சிறுத்தைகள் கட்சி,பஹுஜன் சமாஜ் பார்ட்டி ,இந்திய குடியரசு கட்சி ,புரட்சி பரதம் போன்ற கட்சிகளுக்கும் மட்டுமே தங்கள் வாக்கினை அளிக்கவேண்டும் .

How Dalit politics in Tamil Nadu lost track 

Twenty per cent of the State's population, too many parties and too little unity. The Dalit politics in Tamil Nadu emerged as an alternative in the early and mid-1990s opposing the Dravidian politics in the State.
Close to two decades down the lane many Dalit intellectuals and social scientists feel that it has lost track.
In fact, the history of Dalit movement actually precedes the Dravidian movement to the colonial era in which Dalit intellectuals and leaders Ayothidas Pandithar and Rettaimalai Srinivasan made interventions at various levels espousing the cause of the depressed classes with the Britishers.
Victim of Dravidian hegemony
Dalit electorate, an important decisive factor in any elections in the State, has over the years been with the Congress, the Left, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. It was during the early 1990s, following Dr. Ambedkar centenary and high-level of caste atrocities at the hands of intermediate castes, Puthiya Tamilagam and Vidhuthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi emerged originally as social organisations and later entered electoral politics.
Dalit intellectuals in the State feel that the Dalit movements have not only lost momentum but also fallen prey to the hegemonising control tactics of the Dravidian parties. Ten seats allocated for the VCK in the DMK alliance and the fact that the PT could not get more than two seats indicated the sorry state of affairs of Dalit politics in the State.
Dalit intellectual and writer Stalin Rajangam says, “If Pattali Makkal Katchi, which drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections could get a maximum of 31 seats and a Rajya Sabha seat despite the fact of being a troublesome partner in alliance, the VCK which has a clout in the northern districts and also a reasonable presence across the State has failed completely in the art of lobbying and politicking.”
The Dalit discourse which emerged as a counter-hegemonic discourse questioning the Dravidian ideology as being non-inclusive and one which failed to mainstream the subalterns has become diluted and fallen easy prey to the compulsions of electoral politics. Dalit parties in the State lack a particular agenda or framework. Rather than tackling and lobbying with a concrete strategy they only wish to play second fiddle to the Dravidian parties.
The VCK's emergence in the political scenario is an interesting one. The party, which was against the idea of electoral politics and later decided to contest elections, was offered eight seats in 2001, along with 10 for the PT by the DMK. In 2006, they were offered nine seats by the AIADMK and in 2011 they are given 10. The growth rate is abysmally low and during the last ten years they were able to get just two seats more.
Mr. Stalin Rajangam further said that the compromises that the VCK had made during the last five years anticipating the electoral gains as a passive partner not voicing the major issues that affected the Dalits to appease the DMK showed the intricate workings of political hegemony.
Case of PT
The case of PT is much more disturbing as the party, which grew as a militant organisation following the caste conflicts that rocked the southern districts in the early and mid-1990s, has completely lost ground and has reached a level of accepting a couple of seats from the AIADMK. Feeling betrayed by the Dravidian parties and also Dalit parties who have failed to give adequate representation for Arunthathiyar Dalits, Adi Tamizhar Peravai has fielded candidates in 21 constituencies.
In the 2006 Assembly elections, the VCK contesting in nine constituencies won in Kattumannarkoil and Mangalore and despite losing did well in Sirkazhi, Chengam and Harur. K. Krishnasamy of Puthiya Tamilagam, contesting on BSP symbol, lost at Ottapidaram by a margin of 10,000 votes. The VCK has attracted members of the minority community and various castes into its fold in the recent years. But the party's poor bargaining and lobbying efforts in the alliance could be a big setback, feel experts. Thol. Thirumavalavan was expecting to field a rainbow of candidates cutting across various castes but now has settled with one Muslim and one Vanniyar candidate, says a close aide of the former.
C. Lakshmanan of Madras Institute of Development Studies feels that the overarching domain of identity politics is its emancipatory potential. However, over a course of time, it loses that potential and enters a vicious circle. Dalit politics has entered that phase here. “They started highlighting the significant differences in the Dalit struggles to that of non-Dalits, but once they got consolidated they are compromising themselves and their community for narrow individual interests.”
“The DMK's offer of 10 seats to the VCK does not indicate growth, as 8 out of the 10 are reserved seats. So, it has actually got only two seats from the DMK.”
Most of them also feel that the coming together of the VCK and the PMK is just part of an electoral strategy and not a result of any real effort to bring together the two communities.
To expect that this coming together would go beyond electoral politics and have a significant impact on the functioning of caste dynamics is just an illusion, feel Dalit intellectuals.
Source: The Hindu dated 02.04.2011

DMK EYES DALIT VOTES WITH FREEBIES

The Front Is Playing Up Its Welfare Schemes In Reserved Seats

Ramayi, a dalit daily wage earner of Thandarai village in Cheyyur assembly constituency in Kancheepuram, is excited that her ramshackle hut will soon become a brickand-cement house. The government has promised Rs 75,000 worth of construction materials to her, and she has a certificate to prove it. Ramayi is thankful for the Re 1 rice scheme, too, and soon hopes to own land. “We dalits have never owned any land in our lives; it’s always been the vanniyars who have had the right. That will all change,” she says.
   Through its welfare schemes, the DMK front has made a determined pitch for dalit votes, and hopes to win a significant majority of the 44 constituencies reserved for SCs in the state. The party is contesting 24 of the reserved constituencies, and sharing the rest with VCK (8), Congress (10) and PMK (2). Karunanidhi himself is contesting from Tiruvarur, which was a reserved constituency until recently and has a Dalit population of over 30%.
   Needhirajan, convener of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, however, says that many of the promises are just propaganda and the benefits haven’t really reached Dalits. “Little or no land has been given to dalits by the DMK government, as promised under the panchami land scheme,” says Needhirajan.
   In the 2010-2011 budget, the DMK government allocated Rs 3,800 crores (19%) of total state expenditure for SC/ST schemes - equivalent to the share of the SC population in the state. But critics say this is just an accounting ruse, as the figure includes money spent in general schemes.
   But Tamil Nadu Dalits were not always known for voting on issues. They, as fans of a heroic MGR in movies, were once considered a reliable votebank of AIADMK.
   Old loyalties still survive to some extent. Yazhan Aathi, a school teacher in Ambur, recalls that worshipping heroes - especially from movies - is still common among Dalits, and has helped Vijayakanth get dalit support. But Aathi says that dalits haven’t been given responsibilities in the DMDK organisation. “Dalits are no more satisfied with just token representation,” he says.
   Seeking economic and social progress, Dalits had started looking beyond traditional parties in the late 1990s. At that time, many Tamil Nadu villages turned into battle grounds of caste conflict as young and educated dalits started confronting upper castes. Pallars, concentrated in the southern districts, such as Namakkal, Rajayapalayam, Madurai and Sivaganga, tangled with the Thevars, while Paraiyars
   had conflicts with Vanniars in the northern districts, such as Vellore, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram and Chennai. L eve r a g i n g the conflicts, Kri s h n a sw a my emerged as a leader of the pallars, and Thirumavalavan became a leader of the paraiyars. Pallars are mostly small farmers or landless labourers, while Paraiyars are mostly daily wage earners. Arundhatiyars, the third dalit caste in the state that accounts for 3% of the state population, are the most marginalized even among the Dalits. Living in western Tamil Nadu, such as in Coimbatore and Dharmapuri, Arundhatiyars are oppressed by Kongu Vellalars, says TSS Mani, an observer of Dalit politics. “They are upset that the DMK front includes Kongu Vellalar Party,” says Mani.
   The two main dalit forces that have emerged in the state are now in alliance with parties representing their principal adversaries. The dalit VCK is now in the same boat as the vanniar PMK in the DMK front, and Krishnaswamy’s Pudhiya Thamizhagam has been bargaining for seats with the AIADMK — once seen as representing thevars. Activists defend these alliances and say they would help dalits make progress without conflicts. “The PMK-VCK alliance will promote social harmony,” says Vanni Arasu, a VCK leader.

Source: The Times of India dated 01.04.2011