M.K. Stalin. File
| Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan
DMK president and former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday (October 15, 2026) urged the Tamil Nadu government to file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to protect the reservation rights of members of Backward Classes (BC) who had converted to Islam.
“Social backwardness does not arise in a day or a generation. It is the result of a social system built over thousands of years. Conversion to another religion does not erase it,” he said in a statement.
Mr. Stalin said the Supreme Court’s order on Thursday upholding a Madras High Court verdict denying reservation to Hindu BC members who had converted to Islam was contrary to the principle of social justice.
He said the DMK government, under the ‘Dravidian Model’, had adopted a resolution seeking reservation for Adi Dravidars who converted to Christianity and called for an amendment to the Constitution. “The TVK government should carry forward these efforts,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said members of the BC, Most Backward Classes (MBC), and Scheduled Castes (SC) communities who had faced caste oppression should continue to receive reservation benefits.
“Only this will uphold social justice. Denying reservation on the grounds of religious conversion is against social justice,” he said.
Published – October 15, 2026 01:34 pm IST
