Mandatory approval of parents for marriage of girls under 21: PMK manifesto

The party also said it will fight for enumeration of caste whenever the decennial Census is conducted in India.

Chennai: Paatali Makkal Katchi (PMK), a key constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday said it will push for “mandatory approval” of parents for marriage of girls under the age of 21 to prevent them from getting cheated by "staged love".

The party, in its manifesto for the April 19 Lok Sabha elections, also said it will fight for enumeration of caste whenever the decennial Census is conducted in India, increasing the ceiling of reservation capped at 50 per cent in light of 10 per cent EWS quota, and removal of creamy layer for OBCs in Central jobs and educational institutions.

The manifesto also said efforts will be taken to come out with a new revenue sharing model between the Union and state governments under which the latter will get 50 per cent funds, besides pushing for a Supreme Court bench in Chennai and bringing back education to the State list of the Constitution from the Concurrent list.

This is not the first time that the PMK, which wields considerable influence among Vanniyars, a dominant OBC community spread across north and central Tamil Nadu, has spoken about “mandatory approval” of parents for marriage of girls under the age of 21 – the same was part of its 2019 manifesto.

PMK was the first to coin the term nadaga kadhal (staged love) in 2012 by alleging that Dalit youth, dressed in fancy shirts and trousers, lure women from communities like Vanniyars. The party’s founder S Ramadoss had always used the term in press conferences in the past to “demean” youth from the Dalit community, which led to further animosity between the two communities, who are often at odds with each other.

It was then Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a prominent Dalit party in Tamil Nadu, publicly announced that it will never have any truck with the PMK or be part of any alliance that has the latter.

PMK’s promise, according to activists, is absurd as the permissible age for marriage of men and women in India is 18. They also condemned the PMK for continuing to include the promise in its manifesto election after election.

The party was also at the forefront of protests against Dalits by Vanniyars in 2013 when Elavarasan, a Dalit youth, and Divya from the Vanniyar community eloped and married – a kangaroo court ordered the woman to return to her home but she refused. Her father dying by suicide triggered riots in Dharmapuri districts and days later, the boy was found dead near a railway track.