First things first. The term ‘dravida’ or ‘dravidian’ is not something that exclusively denotes the region of today’s Tamil Nadu. ‘Dravidam’ is more of a geographical term that denotes the region where three seas meet – ‘tra’ (three) ‘vid’ (sea).
The term ‘Dravidian’ has got nothing to do with race as peddled by the stooges of Robert Caldwell and G.U. Pope i.e., the DK and the DMK. It just refers to people who speak the languages belonging to the Dravidian family that includes Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Gondi, Kui, Kuvi, Brahui, Kurukh. Today, they are not just spread across south India but also in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Nepal, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and even in Balochistan.
So, before the ‘dravidian’ chauvinists peddle their demagoguery against the ‘north Indians’, let them know that there are ‘Dravidian’ north Indians too.
Coming to the point now – The ‘Dravidian’ ideologues beat their chests about how Tamil Nadu owes its development to E.V. Ramaswamy (known as Periyar by his followers), Anna and Karunanidhi without failing to recognize that Tamil Nadu has always been ahead of the line thanks to its geographical and historical circumstances. They have spun this myth for 50 years. But thanks to internet, people are getting exposed to the hollow claims made by these ideologues. Here we are bust some of rhetorics propagated by Dravidian sympathizers and the DMK.
1.Dravidian movement abolished caste system in Tamil Nadu:
They say that if not for Periyar, caste would not have been abolished from Tamil Nadu as this remains the only state where caste names are not attached to people’s name. They use this to whip up sentiments against certain Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra etc. On the contrary it is only after the rise of Dravidian parties caste based thoughts have percolated all across the living spectrum in Tamil Nadu. There is a tremendous increase in caste based outfits and also the caste based incidents are still prevailing across both Norther and Southern parts of Tamil Nadu. The DMK party itself has caste hierarchy established. These self-proclaimed warriors of social justice are the same people who oppress and exploit Dalits. Their own MPs and MLAs treat them as second class citizens.
2.Dravidian Movements only helped Dalits in Temple entry:
This is another big lie which dravidian parties have successfully planted in the textbooks of Tamil Nadu and completely whitewashed the history of temple entry movement in Tamil Nadu. The Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act was passed by the government of C. Rajagopalachari in 1939 by which restrictions prohibiting Shanars and Dalits from entering Hindu temples was removed. During this time, Vaidyanatha Iyer was the President of the Tamil Nadu Harijan Seva Sangh. Muthuramalingam Thevar strongly supported this reform, and he issued a warning statement: “I would be there at the entrance of the Meenakshi Temple. Those who dare to prevent the Dalits’ entry into the temple, could come there and meet me. I will answer them”. After this statement, the caste Hindus hesitated to oppose the temple entry of Dalits. On 8 July 1939, Vaidyanatha Iyer entered the Meenakshi temple at Madurai in the company of L. N. Gopalasamy and six of his Dalit friends. Periyar condemned this incident and he was not even part of any activity in the above said event.
3.Dravidian parties only brought education revolution In India:
Another myth which has been peddled just to suit the narratives propagated by DMK members. In 1961, the literacy rate of Tamil Nadu was 36.39% and was already the 2nd highest in India. So, we were already ahead of the line. The DMK came to power for the first time only in 1967. Literacy rates of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in 1961 were 20.87% and 21.95% respectively. During the past 50+ years, Tamil Nadu is only maintaining the lead to some extent. In fact, the incremental change in literacy percentage for the past 50 + years is 43.7% which is much lower than that of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar. It was the mid-day meals scheme of Kamarajar that brought children from poorer sections to schools schools. Dravidian parties just followed suit. It was MGR who expanded the mid day meals scheme in 1982. There are many states like Maharashtra, Tripura, Manipur which were behind or at same level as like in Tamil Nadu in 1961 have now either progressed more or achieved equal status as like Tamil Nadu now.
4.Dalits got reservation benefits only because of Dravidian Parties:
It was always propagated that Dalits in higher strata of the society like Judges, Doctors etc have reached that status due to Dravidian party rule only. Even one of DMK MPs R.S.Bharathi told it was only due to alms thrown by DMK, Dalits were able to become Judges in different courts in India. But in reality the reservation policy was started way back even before independence. It was in the year 1902 Chatrapati Sahu Maharaja of Kolhapur had given 50% reservation in his princely states for non-Brahmins. back in 1943, 8.33% of reservation in services in favor of the Scheduled Castes became effective. In 1951,16% Reservation for SC/ST and 25% Reservation for OBCs was introduced. DMK after coming to power increased the reservation percentage for both OBCs and SC/STs to 31 and 18 percentages. Dravidian parties just coopted existing policies and started white washing as if everything started from their government in 1967.In reality there are so many innumerable people who have fought for upliftment of poorer section of societies.
What DMK has done is only meted out injustice to Dalits by squatting on the Panchami lands.
5.Periyar was a champion of women rights:
Periyar is often hailed as the messiah who helped secure woman’s rights. In fact, this man secretly went to some of his friends and showed them his first wife Nagammai and told them that she was a new Dasi (prostitute) in the town. He asked them to harass her while going to the temple as he couldn’t win over her by his arguments. Traumatised by this his wife stopped attending the temple. Later she came to know that this was a trick played by her rationalist husband.
6. Social harmony was possible because of DMK:
Tamil Nadu was earlier hailed as ‘amaidhi poonga’ (peaceful garden). But today, many of the social unrest are being done at the behest of the DMK. The Jallikattu protest which started as a student led protest against PETA was hijacked by a DMK wolf who had infiltrated under the garb of being a neutral cattle breeder. The Thoothukudi protests too turned violent because of the infiltration of anti-social elements who were functioning in tandem with the DMK to bring the state government down. Not just now, the DMK has been responsible for other bloody events too – Kodiyamkulam incident of 1993, the Manjolai massacre, Coimbatore blasts on basis of religion have all happened under the watch of DMK. In fact, the terrorists who were responsible for the Coimbatore blasts were released under the DMK regime by the then Chief Minister Karunanidhi.
Contrary to their claims of being the saviour of Tamils, the DMK has done more damage to Tamil Nadu and its people than its good deeds. This party is nothing but a family run enterprise where even their own cadres are called as ‘dogs’. One can only imagine the plight of common citizens if they come to power!