On December 24, The News Minute published an article about E.V. Ramasamy Naicker (known as ‘Periyar’ by his followers) remembering the Dravida Kazhagam leader on the occasion of his 47th death anniversary.
The article which starts as an eulogy quoting ‘writer-activist’ Meena Kandasamy, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) MP D. Ravikumar and DMK functionary Salma, ends up as a propaganda piece for the DMK in view of the coming Assembly elections.
In the article, Meena Kandasamy is quoted saying that ‘Periyar’ is ‘more relevant today than ever’. She claims that ‘Periyar’ stood for social justice and empowerment of women while adding that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat contended women’s education.
“We’ve Mohan Bhagwat of the RSS who contends education of women will lead to divorce and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who reckons women are incapable of being independent and left free. But, Periyar stood for emancipation and empowerment of women”, she was quoted saying in The News Minute article.
Salma, a DMK functionary active in the women’s wing resonates the same thoughts expressed by Meena Kandasamy and added that federalism and women’s rights were under threat in the present regime of the BJP.
It is to be noted that E.V. Ramasamy Naicker, who is hailed as a ‘champion of social justice’ commented back then that the price of clothing was rising exponentially because of Dalit women starting to wear jackets. He addressed Dr. Ambedkar as “an agent of the North Indian Brahminical Congress Party”. During the infamous Keezhvenmani incident on 25th December, 1968 when 44 Dalit labourers were burnt alive by Zamindars for demanding a raise in wages, Periyar refused to condemn the incident and instead said, “Labourers should simply accept the wages offered to them by the land-owners instead of demanding more than what they deserve”, thus completely ignoring the violent, casteist angle to the incident.
The article also notes that ‘Periyar’ left behind a rich legacy of Tamil and Dravidian identity while claiming that the Union Government was ‘imposing’ “Aryan languages” like Hindi and Sanskrit. However, these claims made in the article stand contrary to how ‘Periyar’ viewed Tamil language, Tamil literature, and Tamil society.
In an editorial article of Viduthalai dated October 11, 1967, Periyar called Tamil as a “kaatumiraandi mozhi”, meaning barbarian language. He wanted Tamil to be discarded at home and advocated the use of English as the medium of communication. He went to the extent of saying that ‘Tamil is a language that is not even useful for begging’.
Silappadikaram, the great Tamil epic written by Ilango Adigal and belonging to the ancient Sangam literature, was called by ‘Periyar’ as an Aryan propaganda tool. One of the finest and richest literature ever produced by mankind, he considered it to be a treasure of superstitions and slavery of women. While Thirukkural has been a revered work across the world, ‘Periyar’ called it “feces placed in a golden plate”.
Salma was also quoted saying that “Periyarism” would be added to school syllabus if the DMK comes to power. It is noteworthy to mention here that for long school textbooks of Tamil Nadu called ‘Periyar’ as the “Socrates of ‘South-East Asia”. It has been said, written and ingrained in the minds of people that Ramasamy Naicker was conferred with the title of “Socrates of South-East Asia” by the UNESCO. For more than 40 years, this lie has been peddled with several articles and research papers on EVR written based on this lie.
However, an email response from the UNESCO office in Delhi had confirmed that no such award/title was given to E.V. Ramasamy Naicker. Following this, the lie has now been removed from the new textbooks.
VCK MP Ravikumar is quoted saying that the BJP government in the Centre and the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu was ‘anti-science’ and ‘anti-knowledge’ citing that BJP leaders suggested everything from cow urine to pappad as remedies. While it is true that an Assam BJP MLA did suggest cow urine as cure for the Wuhan Virus, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, a civil servant turned politician had only launched the Bhabhi ji papad which like every other food business in the industry after the pandemic, came with claims of increasing immunity and not ‘cure’ corona virus disease.
On the other hand, the VCK MP was silent about its alliance partner DMK. Newly elected Rajya Sabha MPs from the DMK – Tiruchi Siva, Andhiyur Selvaraj and N.R. Elango skipped taking their oath in the month of July because it was ‘Aadi’ month. Aadi month according to Tamil calendar is considered inauspicious to start any endeavour.
Ravikumar also added that the ‘OBC reservation was only on paper’. However, it must be noted that the AIADMK government recently brought in 7.5% internal reservation for government school students in medical admissions through which 405 students benefitted this year alone based on the suggestion given by the then Health Minister JP Nadda. No OBC reservation in state-run educational institutions was scrapped by the BJP government.
The article concludes with an indirect appeal to vote for the DMK where it quotes Salma saying “it is the responsibility of the people of Tamil Nadu to see to it that the AIADMK supported by the BJP is defeated in the polls.”
This article was called out by ‘neutral’ political analyst Sumanth Raman for its fallacies. Responding to the tweet of the article posted by its author, Sumanth Raman questioned the claims made in the article and asked if whether the The News Minute does not verify facts before publishing.
To this, Meena Kandasamy called Sumanth Raman a ‘sombu’ (derogatory term denoting a supporter) of the BJP. It is pertinent to note here that Sumanth C Raman opposed the CAA 2019 and abrogation of Article 370 and 35A, the two landmark decisions of the Narendra Modi government.
She also goes on to make baseless claims about OBCs being denied 10,000 medical seats due to non implementation of quota.
In another series of tweets she calls Sumanth Raman a ‘mama’ to poke fun at his Brahmin origins and also addresses him singular.
DMK functionary Salma too took offence at Sumanth Raman’s tweet to which the latter asked what OBC reservation was cancelled as claimed by VCK MP Ravikumar and Meena Kandasamy.
