Bangalore: Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy’s 122nd birth anniversary was celebrated in Madras and all over Tamil Nadu on Sept. 17. The Bangalore Papatti, facing conviction after conviction for mountains of her corruption, staged the biggest mela in Madras on Sept. 23 with the support of the Dravida Kazagham (DK) faction headed by Veeramani.
Manusmriti burnt: In Bangalore, a modest function was arranged at Tamil Sangham in which the Dalit Voice think-tank along with the DV family took the leading part.
The most-important highlight of the Bangalore meeting was that it began with the burning of the Manusmriti. Elderly Nagamma, wife of the senior- most Periyarist in Bangalore, Annamalai, clad in typical black saree of mourning prescribed by Periyar, burnt the Hindu hate-mongering “holy book” that became a curse of the country and the cause of the ruin of the entire Bahujans plus the shudras.
But the much bigger Madras function did not begin with a similar protest against brahminism. How can a function organised by a Nazi Brahmin burn Manusmriti?
In Dalit Voice, Periyar is being rated as one among the three greatest revolutionaries of “independent” India. The three in that order are Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Periyar and Dr. R.M. Lohia.
Dark-skinned Dravidas: Tamil Nadu, the purest Dravidian state of India, is being ruled only by two “regional” parties either DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) headed by the Cut-Throat or Anna DMK (ADMK) of the Bangalore Papatti. No “national” party could rise its head in the Tamil soil. That situation in TN continues at least till this day.
The dark-skinned Dravidas of the “Tamil country”, as it is called in history books, have in many ways proved themselves as the purest non-Aryan “nation”. All these goes to the credit of Periyar. But there it stops.
Many more serious problems afflicting the same Dravidas remain unsolved:-
- How did a hated Aryan brahminical woman (Bangalore Papatti) head a Dravida party (ADMK)?
- If Periyar’s movement has fought brahminism, how the DMK joined hands with the purest Brahmana Jati Party (BJP) and the “Tamil country is now in the grip of a brahminical revivalism?
- If Periyar’s movement fought caste system (Hinduism) and established social justice, why the Dalits all over the state are being continuously targeted not by the upper caste (Hindus) but by the Backward Caste groups like Thevars and Vanniyars who were in the forefront of Periyar’s movement? TN witnessed the worst anti-Dalit riots to list only a few: Kodiyankulam (1995), Melavalavu (1997), Tirunelveli (1999).
- Coimbatore witnessed major anti-Muslim riots with scores of Muslims killed and several crores worth of Muslim property destroyed.
How did the Dravidians, so close to Muslims, turn against their own blood brothers? How did the shudras forget Periyar’s advice that if they wanted to get rid of their slavery, they must embrace Islam?
Birth of Dalit parties: The most important development is the birth of two Dalit parties – Pudiya Tamilagham, representing the Pallars (new name: Devendra Kula Vellalar), who are mostly in Southern TN, headed by Dr. Krishnaswamy, and the Paraiahs’ Dalit Panthers headed by Thirumavalan. The two subcastes within the Scheduled Castes in TN are the most numerous. The rest are small and neglected by other SCs.
If the Periyar movement has led to social justice why the Dalits continue to be persecuted and alienated from the Periyar movement?
Why Dalits of TN wanted to be called Adi- Dravidas? Does it mean that the Dravidian umbrella created by Periyar did not protect the Dalits? The Periyarists have to answer this question.
Even the Muslims have felt the need to have their own party and the birth of Muslim Munnetra Kazagham (MMK) proves it. The arrest of scores of Muslim leaders under TADA and their detention in Coimbatore and different other jails prove that the Dravidian parties have forgotten social justice.
But the most important point is that Periyar’s movement has failed to destroy the “ethnic identity” of any jati. Nadars, Mudaliars, Naidus, Chettiars, Vanniyars, Thevars, Dalits etc, have refused to give up their identity and merge with the Dravidian identity.
Religion can’t destroy identity: Not only that. The Dalits of TN have proved that they are not a homogenous community. Scheduled Castes (SC) is not one caste. It is a group of several subcastes (ethnic identities). In TN, the two major SC groups are Pariahs and Pallars. And today, both have separate parties. One does not trust the other.
This is a development of great historical significance that goes to defend the DV theory on “ethnic identity”. We have been repeatedly impressing the point that no identity can be destroyed either by a religious or a socio-cultural-political movement. And the only identity in India is caste or subcaste. And caste among non-Aryan Bahujans is different from the caste among Aryans (Hindus).
Sub-nations within a nation: That is why TN today is in the grip of a Tamil nationality upsurge. The Dravidian identity is fading. The oppressed sections, particularly the Dalits lowest of the low-are feeling that Periyar emphasised only the Dravidian identity-ignoring the Tamil identity. They feel that Periyar ignored the Tamil nationality question but stressed only the Dravidian identity as he had to mobilise both the powerful non- Tamils like Telugu (Naidus) and the Malayalees (Nairs) against the Brahmins.
Periyar succeeded to some extent but after his death the shudra and Backward Caste followers refused to merge their identities and this led to attack on Dalits and Muslims. Dalits and the more oppressed among the Backward Castes are now feeling that the “Tamil nation” or Tamil country, as it was then called, can be established not by stressing the Dravidian identity but the Tamil identity.
Contradiction: But here again there is a contradiction. All those dreaming and fighting for “Tamil national identity” should note that the Tamils are not one nation. This was proved in the struggle for Elam in the neighbouring Lanka.
Tamils are not a “nation”: India itself is not a “nation” but a group of nations. So also Tamils are not a single nation. Tamil Dalits are oppressed by Vanniyars and Tamil Thevars, both 100% Tamils. If Tamils are one “nation” why Thevars are killing Pallars?
Similarly, even Dalits are not one nation. Pariahas and Pallars form two different and distinct “ethnic identity”. One does not trust the other.
Those fighting for Elam, the “Tamil nation” of their dream, will have to bear in mind the question of “nation within a nation”. Tamils may be a “nation” but within that “nation” there are many sub-nations. Each sub- nation can strengthen itself only by strengthening its “ethnic identity”. Then only “Tamil nation” will be born.
This fact has to be correctly understood by all those fighting for “Tamil nation” which will be the first to take shape within India provided it takes care of each sub- nation.
