Hope to see a dalit CM in TN in future, says guv

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi said he would be happy to see the day when the state got a dalit chief minister. He said he was shocked to find the number of (sub) castes in the dalit category had increased compared to the past when there were fewer numbers.Speaking at the 135th birth anniversary of Sri La Sri A S Swami Sahajanadhar Adigalar in Chidambaram in Cuddalore district on Monday, he said he was shocked to find there were 200 dalit communities when he first came to TN, with the numbers having increased. He expressed his desire "to see the day when we have a dalit chief minister and a dalit scientist in ISRO."It is a mission to empower society, dalits slowly walk with their heads held high, along with others or ahead of others when the nation celebrated its 100th Independence Day, he said."We should remain culturally rooted, socially cohesive, and educationally progressed," he said. There were "two external forces very aggressively acting against our society, trying to destroy our culture, civilization, and dharma". The governor noted, "One force said our gods were bad, and this force was led by Karl Marx. Another external force (referring to British missionaries) said your gods are bad, they are satans, come worship our god, he will give a solution to your problems."The governor went on to add, "The third force came in after Independence, saying we have our own god, we will give you social justice, we will give you equality." He said the dalit community was the most oppressed in the country, "more so in our state". He mentioned visiting Kilvenmani, where 48 dalits were killed 56 years ago, and "people continued to suffer the same plight". He said, "Atrocities are committed against dalits in our state day in and day out."He said it was now a fashion to talk about Vaikom. The situation in Vaikom in Kerala was equally bad, but there is no discrimination in Kerala now, due to social revolution by Narayana Guru, he said. "Politics cannot solve it, it only divides. A person from the Ezhava community was the proud CM of that state. In south, the Nadars, who were once oppressed, progressed while keeping their cultural values intact," he added.