Tamil Nadu Timeline

ProtestMGR era

Vanniyar reservation agitation

· Villupuram

The Vanniyar Sangam led a road blockade agitation in northern Tamil Nadu demanding separate reservation for the Vanniyar community.

In September 1987 the Vanniyar Sangam, led by S. Ramadoss, launched a week-long road blockade agitation across northern Tamil Nadu. It demanded a separate reservation quota for Vanniyars, who were then classified as a Backward Class. The protests disrupted transport, and clashes with police led to deaths in police firing. The agitation led to the creation of a Most Backward Classes category in 1989 and to the founding of the Pattali Makkal Katchi.

Related events

  1. 1953

    1. 15 Jul 1953KallakudiProtest

      Kallakudi agitation against the name Dalmiapuram

      The DMK protested at Kallakudi against the renaming of the town as Dalmiapuram after an industrialist.

  2. 1979

    1. Jul 1979 to 21 Jan 1980ChennaiSocial Reform

      Income ceiling introduced for backward class reservation

      The MGR government introduced an annual income ceiling to exclude better-off families from backward class reservation.

  3. 1980

    1. 21 Jan 1980ChennaiSocial Reform

      Income ceiling withdrawn, backward class quota raised to 50%

      After electoral setbacks, the MGR government withdrew the income ceiling and raised the backward class quota from 31% to 50%.

  4. 1989

    1. 16 Jul 1989ChennaiPolitics

      Pattali Makkal Katchi founded

      S. Ramadoss founded the Pattali Makkal Katchi, a party rooted in the Vanniyar Sangam and the 1987 reservation agitation.

    2. 1989ChennaiSocial Reform

      Separate 20% quota for Most Backward Classes

      The DMK government split the 50% backward class quota into 30% for Backward Classes and 20% for Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities.

  5. 1994

    1. Aug 1994ChennaiLegislation

      69% reservation Act placed in the Ninth Schedule

      Through the 76th Amendment, the Constitution's Ninth Schedule came to include Tamil Nadu's 1993 law that kept reservation at 69%.

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