Ninth Schedule verdict: Angry reactions across Tamil Nadu

Reacting strongly to the Supreme Court ruling on the scope of judicial review of laws under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said supporters of social justice were prepared "to even shed blood" to protect the reservation quota.

Upset with the court verdict which would remove the Constitutional protection provided to the 69 per cent reservation prevailing in the state, Karunanidhi, in his party organ Murasoli today expressed fear that "the death knell would soon be sounded" for reservation rights, which had been won "by shedding blood and tears". Urging his supporters not to fear, he said: "Our tears might run dry. But the army of social justice supporters raised by great leaders like Periyar, Anna (C N Annadurai) and Kamaraj, have enough blood to be shed."

While several political parties in Tamil Nadu reacted angrily to the Supreme Court verdict, AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa demanded Karunanidhi's resignation "for failing to effectively defend the immunity from judicial review provided to laws in the Ninth Schedule".

The Tamil Nadu Reservation Act of 1993 was included in the Ninth Schedule in 1994 when the AIADMK was in power. In a statement, Jayalalithaa said her regime had striven hard to provide constitutional protection to reservation. "But, the DMK government has betrayed the interests of Tamils by failing to defend its position before the Supreme Court," she said.

Karunanidhi was supporting the Congress government's "double-faced stand on the reservation issue and should own moral responsibility and step down for having blatantly betrayed the interests of Tamils," she said.

PMK founder S. Ramadoss said the Court verdict was "a threat to democracy and social justice". He demanded that the Prime Minister convene a meeting of Chief Ministers to elicit their views on how to protect laws included in the Ninth Schedule.

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