In a blatant distortion of history, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting put a tweet hailing E.V. Ramasamy Naicker (hailed as ‘Periyar’ by his admirers), as a freedom fighter.
“Remembering the great freedom fighter & social activist on his death anniversary.”, the tweet read.
It also went on to state that EVR mobilized people from all walks of life against the British, which wasn’t the case as per history.
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting is promoting a man who called India’s Independence Day as Black Day
MIB has Completely lost it ! @Murugan_MoS @ianuragthakur pic.twitter.com/IwGDBj3SGm
— Tinku | ಟಿಂಕು (@tweets_tinku) December 24, 2022
Following a social media uproar, the tweet was taken down by the Ministry’s handle.
E.V. Ramasamy Naicker is a rabid anti-Hindu bigot known for his pro-British stance when the Indian Freedom Struggle was its peak. He was someone who opposed the very idea of India marking Indian independence day as a ‘black day’. He pleaded with the British to not leave India and pledged allegiance to them asking the Madras Presidency to be ruled from London. He had called for a Dravidistan along the lines of Pakistan and also tried to collude with Muhammad Ali Jinnah for the same.
This isn’t the first instance when EVR has been glorified as a ‘freedom fighter’ by a Central Government institution.
Earlier, the name of EVR was found in the list of freedom fighters prepared by Doordarshan Kendra and All India Radio Chennai for production of programmes for ‘Azadi Ka Amrimahotsav’ marking the the 75th year of independence.
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