‘Dravidian Maya: Lies, Deception and Collaboration’, the English-translated version of the Tamil best-seller ‘Dravida Mayai’ written by acclaimed author V.R. Balasubramaniyan was released on May 17, 2022.
The book was released by BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai and the first copy was received by Dr. T. Devanathan Yadav, Chairman of Win TV.
The event saw the participation of many prominent personalities like Editor of ‘Thuglak’ magazine S. Gurumurthy, Author Prabhakaran, Columnist R. Natarajan among others.
Addressing the occassion as Chief Guest, Mr. Annamalai attacked the much-hyped ‘Dravidian Model’ equating it with an onion.
He said that just like how an onion has several layers, the ‘Dravidian Model’ functions at different layers.
“The first layer is the ‘academic/intellectual’ layer which could comprise of few journalists, ‘American-educated’ philosophers and so on. They keep talking about Dravidian philosophy, Dravidian Model in all stages. There must be around 200-250 people like that. Once you peel this outer layer and go inside, then comes the ‘attack layer’. This is an interesting layer. If anyone wants to have a civilized debate, immediate response of them is to spew abuses based on one’s caste and religion thinking that the other side will refrain from questioning.”, Mr. Annamalai said.
“The next layer comprises of regional satraps. Right from 1967, every region like Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Vizhupuram have been leased out. The first two layers duty is to protect these regional satraps. So far, they’ve been able to protect these regional satraps. But with the advent of social media and an alternative ecosystem, these two layers have been peeled away”, he said.
“The fourth layer comprises of the DMK family. Protecting the family becomes the prime duty of the third layer, the regional satraps. Be it their business concern, their dealings, their international level money laundering, all these come in this layer. And once you peel that too, there will be ‘Gopalapuram’.”, he further added.
Citing RTI data, the BJP Tamil Nadu President pointed that there were around 626 villages (2019) and 446 villages (2020) in the state where untouchability was being practiced.
“And the district where untouchability was being practiced the most is Tiruvarur, where 158 villages practice untouchability”, he said. Tiruvarur is the native of late DMK patriarch Karunanidhi.
“If this is not Maya, then what is!”, Annamalai said pointing out the fallacies of the Dravidian Model.
Writer Prabhakaran, a prominent television debate panelist and an author, who addressed the occassion shared interesting anecdotes from the book written by Balasubramaniyan.
“Once Kalaignar was due to go abroad for some medical emergency. His family decides to do pooja for the family deity ‘Angala Parameswari’ in Tirukuvalai. Kalaignar is little reluctant. So, he decides to have the pooja between 4:00 and 5:30 in the morning thinking that no one else will come to know of it. He comes out of the temple at 5:30 with a garland on his neck and Sakkarai Pongal in his hands. Unfortunately, there was a Dinamalar reporter waiting with a flash and camera. The comedy of errors that followed looks like a page lifted off from Tenali Raman tales.”, Prabhakaran said.
He also pointed out that when Justice Party was ruling Tamil Nadu back in the days, its Ministers drew a salary of ₹5000 per month. “For 17 years they were in power. Do you know the value of ₹5000 in 1937? In 1937, 1 gm of gold cost only ₹3. If you translate it into gold terms, they were drawing ₹6.67 crores in today’s money for 17 years. This should have even shocked the Britishers!”, Prabhakaran said.
He said that the book is a must-read for today’s youngsters who want to know about post-Independence Tamil Nadu politics.
Speaking on the occassion, Thuglak columnist Natarajan said that the ‘Dravidian Model’ was nothing but a myth. He said that Tamil does not flourish by holding placards of ‘Long Live Tamil’ but by action. He pointed out that during the times of Congress leaders like Kamaraj and Bhaktavatsalam, an encyclopaedia of Tamil was brought out in several volumes. “No such encyclopaedia was brought under the Dravidian rule.”, Natarajan said. He also said that when the computers came, it was the Sri Lanka Tamils who put in the Tamil font in computers.
“Language and race are the two things with which Dravidian politicians run their course. This book demolishes the Dravidian illusion.”, Natarajan said.
Dravida Maayai, originally written in Tamil, consists of three books that details about the Tamil political scene from 1917 to 1981. It exposes the fallacies of the much-hyped ‘Dravidian Model’ of politics championed by the DMK and its affiliates.
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