VCK seeks royalty for the mineral wealth of Tamil Nadu

Chennai, May 30 (IANS) The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a political party for the upliftment of Dalits, has demanded that the Centre pay a royalty to Tamil Nadu for the mineral wealth extracted from the state.

The VCK founder president and Member of Parliament Thol Thirumavalavan, in a statement, said that the state's mineral resources like coal and iron ore are being used by the Central government and demanded that royalty is paid to the state for this.

Thol Thirumavalavan, while speaking to IANS on Monday said: "The central government is extracting mineral wealth from the state like coal and iron ore and we must be given royalty for it. A party meeting held at Madurai on Sunday has passed a resolution on the same."

In the statement, the VCK leader said that the Central government ruled by the BJP is favouring industrialists and that this was worse than even colonial times.

The VCK conducted a "Red Shirt" programme at Madurai against the BJP and RSS and their ideologies of caste, class, and varna system and Thol Thirumavalan highlighted that Ambedkarism, Marxism, and Periyarism are the same and the aim of these ideologies was to fight Brahmanism and to cut its roots.

As many as 1,000 people from 120 outfits, including Dravidar Kazhagam and other Dravidian movements, participated in the meeting at Madurai on Sunday.