Political commentator Stalin Rajangam said it was the outcome of Dalit assertion and the growing strength of VCK in the state.

“There is no history of any welfare being undertaken for the Dalits without pressure from outside. If you look at a series of Dalit issues in the state, there has been a perception in the state that DMK is not lending its ears to Dalit issues. They are trying to rectify past mistakes,” said Rajangam, adding that VCK’s discussions on power-sharing also played a role.

DMK Kancheepuram MLA and students wing state secretary C.V.M.P. Ezhilarasan denied external pressure. He said it was an expansion of the DMK’s model of social justice governance.

VCK general secretary and MLA Sinthanai Chelvan said this should be seen as a case of someone being given the post as a deserving candidate, not because of caste or party pressure.

“Caste was not a hindrance for the deserving candidate is what it means. Had the government wanted to increase the number of SC (Scheduled Caste) ministers, they would have done it at the time of forming the cabinet itself. There is no need now to increase the numbers when all is well within the government,” he said.

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Politics of inducting Dalits in cabinet

Rumours around the VCK’s involvement in Chezhiaan’s induction into the cabinet followed fortnight-long debates and discussions between the two parties over power-sharing in the government.

Although VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said the alliance with DMK was intact, speculations over the discussions refused to die down. Thirumavalavan went on to explain that the alliance with the DMK was not over power-sharing or the number of seats but to oppose Sanatana Dharma ideology propagated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Political commentator and author of the book The DMK Years: Ascent, Descent, Survival, R. Kannan said the development was long overdue and was taking place because of societal pressure.

“The rise of the Ambedkarite parties and Dalit assertion cannot be separated. It happened after the death of former chief minister M.G. Ramachandran. The recent developments could be seen that DMK wanted to emphasise that it is inclusive of Dalits to gain their support and not lose them to the Ambedkarite parties,” Kannan said.

Chezhiaan’s induction into the Cabinet could also be a political strategy to give greater representation to the Adi Dravidars, dominant in the northern region of Tamil Nadu—where VCK is also more powerful. This is particularly important with the assembly elections scheduled for 2026.

Dravidian writer and former head of Tamil department at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, A. Ramasamy, said it was a move to appease the Adi Dravidar community who largely support the VCK.

“The societal pressure is also one of the reasons to add Govi Chezhiaan as minister,” he added.

However, the DMK denied any pressure in the society to induct more Dalits into the cabinet.

“We don’t differentiate anybody by their birth. There are only two kinds of people—those who were given opportunities and those who were denied opportunities. Those who were denied opportunities are Dalits, irrespective of the caste they were born into. Our CM has chosen a person who had been denied opportunity for years,” said Ezhilarasan, quoted earlier.

Portfolios of significance

Chezhiaan and Kayalvizhi Selvaraj have also been given portfolios of significance that were usually reserved for senior party members.

“When it comes to higher education, senior minister K. Anbazhagan kept it for a long time and after him, it was given to K. Ponmudi,” said Ramasamy.

Similarly, ever since the DMK came to power in 2021, it has been facing criticism for giving the Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare and not a more prominent portfolio to Selvaraj, a Dalit woman MLA.

Now, she has been allocated the Human Resources Department, while the Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare has been reassigned to Mathiventhan.

Tamil Puligal Katchi, an Ambedkarite party largely backed by the Arunthathiyar community, responded positively over the allocation of the department to an MLA from the Arunthathiyar community.

The Arunthathiyar community is the most socially, politically, and economically deprived among the sub-castes in the Scheduled Caste, according to activists in the state.

Chezhiaan’s induction is also being seen as a sign that the third generation of the DMK is up for revival and to take the social justice way forward.

Talking about the elevation of Udhayanidhi Stalin to the post of deputy chief minister in addition to the Cabinet reshuffle, Rajangam said that it signals the Dravidian party’s intention to do something for Tamil Nadu’s Dalit community.

A government source at the State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes told ThePrint that the government was keen to address issues of the two communities.

“The state vigilance and monitoring committee that was supposed to convene once in six months had happened only twice during the 10 years of AIADMK government. However, in the past three years, the committee, headed by the Chief Minister, has convened nine times,” the source said.

The state government will also announce a monitoring committee within a week to monitor the funds spent and distributed through the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP). “They are coming up with a way to carry forward the unused fund from a particular year to the next and the announcement is likely in a week,” the source said.

The SCSP is a Centre-backed initiative to ensure a targeted flow of financial and physical benefits to the Scheduled Caste communities. Under the scheme, the state government can choose the schemes it wants to implement from a Special Central Assistance.

History of Dalits in Tamil Nadu cabinet

From the time Omandur Ramasami Reddiar took charge as the premier of the Madras Presidency (present-day Tamil Nadu, parts of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh) on 24 March 1947 till a few days ago, the state has only had a maximum of three Dalit Cabinet ministers.

The Madras Presidency got its first Dalit Minister, B. Parameswaran, the grandson of Rettaimalai Srinivasan, a Dalit icon in the state, only in 1949 when Kumaraswamy Raja took charge as the premier.

However, even then, Parameswaran was not given a prominent portfolio. He was only allocated fisheries, cottage industries, khadi, and firka (revenue block) development, along with Harijan upliftment portfolios.

However, after K. Kamaraj came to power in 1954, he brought in P Kakkan—raising the number of Dalit ministers to two. “He was given prominent portfolios including Home Affairs, Public Works and Agriculture Department over a period of time,” said writer Kannan.

With the rise of the Dravidian movement in the state, the DMK came to power in 1967 but inducted only one minister from the Scheduled Caste—Satyavani Muthu, who was only given the Harijan Welfare and Information department.

Later, during a Cabinet reshuffle, after the death of the former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai, former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi also brought in O.P. Ramana into the Cabinet. Ramana was also in the Cabinet when DMK came to power for the second time in 1972.

“To the credit of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, it was he who changed the name of the department from Harijan Welfare Department to Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department,” Kannan said.

The arithmetic of restricting ministers from the Scheduled Caste to one or two remained the same even during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) rule under former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran.

According to Kannan, it was after the death of Ramachandran that the caste-based parties in the state started to mushroom leading to the rise of Dalit assertion.

“It was during the 1990s that Devendra Kula Vellalars led by Dr Krishnaswamy organised under one umbrella and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi led by Thirumavalavan entered into the foray, giving an opportunity to assert the identity of Dalits,” said Kannan.

In the 2000s, the state saw a sudden shift in the Dalit representation in the government and parties. As a result, the AIADMK government under former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa (2001-2006), assigned P. Dhanabal—who at first was given the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department—the prominent portfolio of the Food and Co-operation Department.

In 2006, after DMK came to power, it introduced a 3 percent internal reservation for Dalits in 2009. “It forced the next AIADMK government that came in power in 2011 to keep Dhanabal in the light to protect its image,” Kannan said. Dhanabal was the Deputy Speaker in the first year and was later made the Speaker of the Assembly.

However, during the last AIADMK government between 2016 and 2021, even with the inclusion of the Assembly Speaker, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet had only three people from the Dalit community—two ministers and one speaker.

The DMK, when it came to power in 2021, inducted three ministers from the SC community. Now, with the addition of Chezhiaan, the highest number of Dalits in the Cabinet in the history of the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

(Edited by Sanya Mathur)

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