Rajiv Malhotra – Prof. Vaidyanathan interview on ‘Dravidian Identity Politics -EVRamaswamy’;  

Why it may accelerate the breaking of Tamilnadu from India?

From Rajiv Malhotra, I received the following interview by Professor Vaidyanathan on ‘Dravidian Identity Politics -EVRamaswamy’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7vJE9SXTo8&list=PLGQElwzyJxtxYLYCsYRUpHQKAJ9w9ERJO&index=9

Subjecting my previous association with the anti-Brahmin Tamilnadu separatist ideology of ‘Periyar’ EVR, the founder of the Dravidian movement in Tamilnadu;

to the analysis in the light of my subsequent inter-disciplinary research findings, involving Physics, Music, ancient Tamil & Sanskrit texts, & Sociology;

I had shared my discovery on ‘Fringe Mechanism derailing the Indian Nation Building Process’ (http://tamilsdirection.blogspot.com/2018/04/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_17.html)

Maniammai was not E.V. R’s adopted daughter, as mentioned in the beginning of the above interview.

As E.V.R was aged and living alone, in 1943 a follower of E.V.R volunteered to send his daughter Maniammai, aged 25, as caretaker of E.V.R. She was one of the speakers in the Salem Conference in 1944. She had taken part in 1948 anti-Hindi struggle and was imprisoned for 2 months. EVR wanted to make his elder brother’s son E.V.K Samapath his heir to his property and the party. C.N.A succeeded in thwarting that plan, and E.V.R lost his confidence in Sampath. The next alternative was his caretaker Maniammai. At that time, according to the Hindu Law, the only option was to marry her to create a legal heir. The marriage was registered on 9.7.1949, when E.V.R was aged 70 and Maniammai was aged 31. E.V.R wrote an explanation on 16.7.1949 in his weekly ‘Kudi Aracu’.

Also to know more about E.V.R’s services for the welfare of the Dalits, one must go thru the writings of the front line leaders of Vaikkom struggle, who unable to progress in the final phase of the struggle, appealed to E.V.R who, to help them,  actively participated with family, imprisoned.  As E.V.R’s father had hosted the visit of the king to E.V.R’s place Erode, E.V.R was offered a welcome by the king. E.V.R declined it and participated in the struggle. 

During the Mudukalaththur riots, E.V.R whole heartedly supported the then CM Kamaraj. The backward castes in the region were angry with E.V.R and opposed E.V.R till his death. Also ‘Kudi Aracu’ and other journals before Independence, had reported how E.V.R had supported pro-dalit struggles taking place in various parts of Tamilnadu. All dalit leaders including Ambedker were his friends. Suppressing all these primary sources, adopting selective distortion of the events and speeches of E.V.R, present day writers who are close to foreign funded N.G.Os try to portray E.V.R as ‘anti-Dalit’, while anti-Hindutva  mostly backward caste  pro-E.V.R are also patronized by the same N.G.Os.

It is similar to the current battle between the anti-EVR LTTE and pro-E.V.R LTTE supporters, both backed by LTTE patrons from the western countries. Who succeeds in fooling whom, may become clear soon, if Modi govt wakes up to the unique dimensions of the breaking soft power in TN ? Minus the support of the soft power, the victory of the hard power will not be long lasting.

In my view, the above interview will help to break Tamilnadu from India. I have given below the reasons for my inference. Adopting the social black & white approach hiding the positive credentials of E.V.R or any leader, will become a self-defeating exercise.

1.    ‘Retired British Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer Allan Octavian Hume founded the Indian National Congress (A political party of India (British India to Free India)) in order to form a platform for civil and political dialogue among educated Indians.’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Indian_National_Congress)  Since Brahmins were dominating in Madras Presidency, non-Brahmin leaders in the Congress left the party and formed ‘the South Indian Liberal Federation’ ( popularly known as Justice Party) in 1917. Justice party can be compared to Congress-Khilafat Swaraj Party (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaraj_Party)

2.    In 1909, two lawyers, P. Subrahmanyam and M. Purushotham Naidu, announced plans to establish an organisation named "The Madras Non-Brahmin Association" and recruit a thousand non-Brahmin members before October 1909. They elicited no response from the non-Brahmin populace and the organisation never saw the light of the day. Later in 1912, disaffected non-Brahmin members of the bureaucracy like Saravana Pillai, G. Veerasamy Naidu, Doraiswami Naidu and S. Narayanaswamy Naidu established the "Madras United League" with C. Natesa Mudaliar as Secretary. The league restricted itself to social activities and distanced itself from contemporary politics. On 1 October 1912, the league was reorganised and renamed as the "Madras Dravidian Association". The association opened many branches in Madras city. Its main achievement was to establish a hostel for non-Brahmin students. It also organised annual "At-home" functions for non-Brahmin graduates and published books presenting their demand. 

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Party_(India))

3.    Due to the persuasion of his close friend Rajaji, E.V. Ramasamy joined the Indian National Congress in 1919 after quitting his business and resigning from public posts. wholeheartedly undertook constructive programs spreading the use of Khadi, picketing toddy shops, boycotting shops selling foreign cloth, and eradicating untouchability. In 1921, Periyar courted imprisonment for picketing toddy shops in Erode. When his wife as well as his sister joined the agitation, it gained momentum, and the administration was forced to come to a compromise. He was again arrested during the Non-Cooperation movement and the Temperance movement.[6] In 1922, Periyar was elected the President of the Madras Presidency Congress Committee during the Tirupur session, where he advocated strongly for reservation in government jobs and education. His attempts were defeated in the Congress party due to a strong presence of discrimination and indifference, which led to his leaving the party in 1925.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periyar_E._V._Ramasamy) During the above period. EVR opposed the Justice Party.  Brahmins supporting social justice served as ministers, when Justice Party was in power.

4.    In 1925 EVR started the ‘self-respect movement’ and published Tamil weekly ‘Kudi Aracu’ and an English Journal. Marx-Engle’s ‘Manifesto of the Communist Party’ was translated into Tamil and published; followed by their other writings in Tamil, punished with fines, confiscation of the journals, imprisonment during the colony rule. In December 1931 he undertook a tour of Europe, accompanied by S. Ramanathan and Erode Ramu, to personally acquaint himself with their political systems, social movements, way of life, economic and social progress and administration of public bodies. He visited Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Germany, England, Spain, France and Portugal, staying in Russia for three months. On his return journey he halted at Ceylon and returned to India in November 1932.

5.    On 11 August 1937, within a month of becoming the CM of Madras Presidency, Rajaji announced compulsory Hindi teaching in the schools, and in spite of the opposition from the pro-Tamil forums and the Justice Party,  on 21 April 1938, Rajaji went ahead and passed a government order (G.O) making the teaching of Hindi compulsory in 125 Secondary schools in the Presidency. Tamil scholars like Maraimalai Adigal, Somasundara Bharathi, K. Appadurai, Mudiyarasan, K. A. P. Viswanatham and Ilakkuvanar opposed it.

In December 1937, Tamil Saivite scholars were among the first to announce their opposition to the Hindi teaching in the Saiva Sidhandha Maha Samaja conference at Velur. Women also participated in the agitation in large numbers. Moovalur Ramamirtham, Narayani, Va. Ba. Thamaraikani, Munnagar Azhagiyar, Dr. S. Dharmambal, Malar Mugathammaiyar, Pattammal and Seethammal were some of the women who were arrested for participating in the agitation. On 13 November 1938, the Tamil Nadu Women's Conference was convened to demonstrate women's support for the movement.Despite the anti-Brahmin sentiments of the backers of the agitation, a few Brahmins like Kanchi Rajagopalachari also participated in the movement. The Tamil speaking Muslims in the Madras presidency supported the agitation (in contrast to the Urdu speaking Muslims, who supported the propagation of Hindi). In August–September 1938, a protest march was jointly organised by the Self-Respect movement and the Muslim league. In the next 42 days, the marchers covered 234 villages and 60 towns. They addressed 87 public meetings and received widespread coverage in the press. They reached Madras on 11 September 1938 and were arrested for picketing government offices. The march succeeded in raising anti-Hindi and pro-Tamil support in smaller towns and villages. For the first time, the separation demand ‘Tamilnadu for Tamils’ was announced by EVR, weakening the developing Indian identity among the Tamils; while precolonial diverse identity all over in India was undergoing the transformation towards the anti-colonial Indian identity. The following statement in the Indian Constitution Assembly was delivered, by the nationalist. T.T. Krishnamachari:

“This kind of intolerance makes us fear that the strong Centre which we need, a strong Centre which is necessary will also mean the enslavement of people who do not speak the language of the legislature, the language of the Centre. I would, Sir, convey a warning on behalf of the people of the South for the reason that there are already elements in South India who want separation and it is up to us to tax the maximum strength we have to keeping those elements down, and my honourable friends in U.P. do not help us in anyway by flogging their idea ‘Hindi Imperialism’ to the maximum extend possible.”- T.T. Krishnamachari; http://www.languageinindia.com/april2006/constituentassemblylastdays.pdf )  

Only through the social dynamics of the identity related social energy development, one can understand the magnitude of this damage in TN. (‘Is the Language Policy derailing the nation building process in India?’; http://tamilsdirection.blogspot.com/2017/06/is-language-policy-derailing-nation.html)

Lord Erskine, the then Governor of Madras wrote to Viceroy Linlithgow in July 1938 that "Compulsory Hindi has been the cause of great trouble in this province and is certainly contrary to the wishes of the bulk of the population. On 29 October 1939, Rajaji's Congress Government resigned protesting the involvement of India in the Second World War. Madras provincial government was placed under Governor's rule. On 31 October, Periyar suspended the agitation and asked the Governor to withdraw the compulsory Hindi order.[29] On 21 February 1940, Governor Erskine, issued a press communique withdrawing compulsory Hindi teaching and making it optional (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitation_of_1937%E2%80%9340)

6.  EVR was elected as the leader of the Justice party in 1938, while he was in prison for the anti-Hindi agitation. Under the influence of C.N.Annadurai, in 1944 EVR transformed Justice Party as non-electoral party “Dravidar Kazhagam’, expelling all the leaders of the Justice Party. The linguistic, Geographic related word ‘Dravidar’ suffered semantic racial distortion acquiring ‘anti-Brahmin’ dimension. In terms of honesty and religious faith; Justice Party and DMK/DK are disjoint.

7.   After the resignation of Rajaji as CM, the governor invited E.V.R the president of Justice party to form the govt. Rajaji tried to persuade his close friend E.V.R to accept the offer. But E.V.R declined it. (Ananda Vikatan interview 04-04-1965; http://www.keetru.com/index.php/homepage/2009-10-07-11-18-55/3355-periyar-muzhakkam-feb2014)
 Before Independence Rajaji supported the ‘Dravida Nadu Separation’ demand of EVR.

"We going to soon get the cooperation of my friend and comrade, Acharya (Rajagopalachari), for the separation of Dravida Nadu. Not only him, but all Brahmins ... are going to support our demand for separation"- Periyar EVR ; http://en.wikiedia.org/wiki/C._R._formula

8.    After Independence, in the 1952 general election of the Madras Presidency, the Congress Party contested in 367 seats and won 152.  MuthuRamalinga Devar, a staunch pro- INA nationalist tried to form the govt, grouping all non-congress MLAs. (https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/) De-railing MuthuRamalinga Devar’s efforts and introducing the political disease of defection, Rajaji became the CM. 

9.    Late M.P.SivagnAnam, in his biography, had recorded that the TN congress declined to pass a condolence resolution, when great nationalist V.O.Chidambaram Pillai died. V.O.C, Subramaniya Bharathiyar and other leaders who opposed Gandhi were ignored by the pro-Gamdhi nationalists. Inspired by the Nehru dynasty, that  strategy was later adopted by M.Karunanidhi to convert DMK into his family party.

 Rajaji and the D.M.K leader C.N.Annadurai instigated the 1965 anti-Hindi agitation involving the students, and E.V.R opposed it, as revealed in the above mentioned ‘Ananda Vikatan’ interview

Rajaji was mainly responsible for strengthening anti-Indian pro-Tamil Identity in Tamilnadu and DMK capturing power in 1967 and M.K becoming CM in 1969. Rajaji’s role was pro-active and E.V.R’s role was reactive. 

None of the pro-Gandhi TN congress leaders including Rajaji, suffered imprisonment, confiscation of journals and intimidation from the govt, like E.V.R during the colony rule. None of them had conducted meeting in most of the towns and villages in TN like E.V.R. Moreover after entering into the public life, E.V.R abandoned his rich life style, and started travelling in buses and third class train, till he was healthy even in his old age. 

A study of ‘Kudi Aracu’(Tamil Weekly), would reveal that EVR (prior to DK phase) published the criticisms from his dissidents like Jeeva, Muthusamy Vallaththaracu, etc WITHOUT EDITING , and replied to them. Unfortunately, the Tamil scholars close to E.V.R failed to refute his arguments against the ancient Tamil texts. Hence the unbelievable social energy developed by E.V.R damaged Tamil & Tamil identity. The social disruption, depression, suicide, drug use, disrespecting the elders, etc currently witnessed among the educated youth in TN, may be due to the above damages caused by E.V.R unaware of his intellectual limitations w.r.t the study of the ancient Tamil texts. 

The Tamil identity bungling of EVR benefited DMK to appropriate the social energy of E.V.R, and subjugate anti-India Tamil identity to selfish political interests of DMK.

“Because of the close links between language and identity, if people begin to think of their language as useless, they see their identity as such as well. This leads to social disruption, depression, suicide and drug use, he says. And as parents no longer transmit language to their children, the connection between children and grandparents is broken and traditional values are lost.” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8311000/8311069.stm) 
 

DMK’s subjugated anti-India Tamil identity, divorced the Tamil intellectual dimension and strengthened the emotional dimension transforming it to a new kind of language drug; ‘Dravidian Blue Whale social menace’ - http://tamilsdirection.blogspot.com/2017/09/spreading-blue-whale-in-tn-corruption.html

 

One who tries to undo the damages need to lead simple and honest life like E.V.R, and objectively criticize his views that caused the damages, while recognizing E.V.R’s sacrifices. From 2005, I have been doing it. ‘Periyar’ party leaders did not refute my criticisms till now. But after Rajiv Malhotra’s entry into the TN public space against the Dravidian Movement & E.V.R, ‘Periyar’ party leaders had started publishing books, articles and conducted meetings with the evidences mostly in Tamil, easily refuting Rajiv Malhotra’s arguments that followed the social black & white approach hiding the positive credentials of E.V.R. The social black & white approach will divide the people to the advantage of the vested interests, looting Tamilnadu. 

Present TN BJP seems to be spineless to protect the Tamil interests in Modi Govt. For example, some mischievous official in the postal recruitment discontinued Tamil in the recruitment exams. Had TN BJP initiated a prompt representation, the damage would have been rectified, proving its pro-Tamil credentials. Instead both DMK & AIADMK raised the issue in the parliament and earned the fame for undoing the damage. Now there is case pending in the high court with the prayer demanding the Tamil translation of the New Education Policy. Demand for ASI Keezadi excavation in TN was raised for more than 40 years. Only after Modi becoming P.M, the excavation started. Later some mischievous officials, like those in the postal dept, derailed the excavation. While TN BJP was sleeping w.r.t this issue, anti-Modi forces succeeded in forcing the A.S.I to give permission, that too delegating the task to the TN Govt. The above process had strengthened the soft power for breaking TN from India. Had TN BJP grasped the initiative and ensured the continuance of the excavation, it would have weakened the above negative soft power, and strengthened the nation building in TN.

True, foreign funded Christian NGOs support anti-Modi groups and parties in TN. But the ground was prepared for them by Rajaji & Gandhi.  Now TN BJP is indirectly helping them, by not safeguarding Tamil interests in the Modi govt, and insulting mass leaders like EVR & C.N.A.  This trend, if unchecked, will break Tamil Nadu from India.

Note: Criticisms refuting Dr. R. Nagaswamy’s views on Tamil, Tamil Music and ThirukkuRaL, are published mostly in Tamil. Unlike Iravatham Mahadevan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iravatham_Mahadevan), Dr. R. Nagaswamy’s views with the subjective bias, is resurrecting the otherwise dying anti-Sanskrit trend in Tamilnadu. Hence, I like to encourage scholarly dialogue on the views of Dr. R. Nagaswamy. 
(http://tamilsdirection.blogspot.com/2019/09/is-nagaswamy-aware-of-thephonetic.html)

Also read: ‘The Dravidian Movement & Rescuing Tamilnadu’; 

http://tamilsdirection.blogspot.com/2014/10/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_10.html