News Tamil Nadu

Dinamalar Puts Objectionable Headline About TN Govt Breakfast Scheme; Stalin, DMK & Dravidianists Target Hinduism And Brahmins

August 31, 2023
The Commune

Tamil news daily, Dinamalar is in the news for an objectionable headline in the 31 August 2023 edition. The headline of the article on the front page of the newspaper critiquing the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme read “Breakfast Scheme – Double meals for the students” and a byline that said, “Toilets in schools overflowing”. 

The Dinamalar article implied that the introduction of the new breakfast program, in addition to the existing mid-day meal initiative, has led to an increase in students’ restroom usage due to having consumed an excessive amount of food.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin hit out at the newspaper article by posting about it on social media platform X. He however chose to bring Sanatana Dharma and Brahmins into the picture.

He posted, “One race to do the hard work, one race to do the eating and fattening – at a time when Manuvadhis were ruling, the great Dravidian party was formed to bring in social justice in the form of “everything for everyone”. ‘Whatever you give the Shudras, never give them education’ – this idea was smashed and the education revolution was created by the Dravidian movement regime. In an era when we are launching the Chandrayaan to the Moon, if Sanatanam can publish such a headline, then what kind of games would it have played 100 years back? What would have been the condition of the poor? The malice has not disappeared yet! I strongly condemn #Dinamanu!”

MK Stalin’s son, DMK Youth Wing Secretary and Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Udhayanidhi Stalin took a dig at “Aryans” saying, “The Dravidian model will observe if education is overflowing. The Aryan model will observe if toilets are overflowing.”

In Tamil Nadu, Brahmins are equated with Aryans and are derogatorily addressed as Aryavandheri Papaan meaning Aryan Brahmin immigrants/settlers.

As if waiting for an opportunity to criticise Hinduism and take potshots at Brahmins, a huge number of DMK supporters also posted distasteful tweets targetting Brahmins. Some of them are quoted below:

This tweet says, “If Mother F***** brahmins are feeling the heat/feeling jealous, this scheme is a historic success. This breakfast scheme will speak about the achievements of the Dravidian movement for centuries. The measure of our success is directly proportional to the level of jealousy of the Brahmins.”

In another tweet that quotes the Editor/Founder of Dinamalar who posted a condemnation note about an objectionable article. The tweet says “The one word that is “their” favourite is sorry.” Here the one who has posted it has used the term “Avaa” which is a derogatory term for Brahmins and is like a slur used against them. 

Kalaignar News handle was found having a field day and made several distasteful posts. Here are a few:

“Why does Dinamalar feel jealous when poor children eat?”

In this tweet captioned, Action Reaction, the picture on the left is a screenshot of the news article by Dinamalar on the Breakfast Scheme, on the right, there is a toilet roll with a morphed news article that reads “Let’s protect the sanctity of the poonol/janeu” with a byline “Today on the occasion of Avani Avittam, Sacred thread changing ceremony was held at Sringeri Math, near Bypass Road, Madurai.”

In another tweet captioned “Strong condemnation of Dinamalar who criticised the Chief Minister’s breakfast plan!”, the image shared in the tweet reads, “The “Iyer” who eats at his home, doesn’t eat the Puliyodharai given at the temple”. The language used in the image mocks “Iyer bashai” – the language/dialect of Tamil spoken by Tamil Brahmins. .

The auspicious occasion of janeu changing – Avani Avittam, performed by several communities (other than Brahmins) in Tamil Nadu has been mocked in this post. While Dinamalar did carry an article about the festival, the photo and other information cannot be corroborated.

Another handle whose bio suggests that she is Deputy District Co- ordinator (south) Coimbatore DMK IT wing, tweeted, “Why should a slave have blood in his body”, these are the lines of Poet Kannadasan. Some people who are in the highest position of journalists are slaves to the fascist forces and are doing such despicable things. Their downfall is not far off.”

The image shared in this tweet portrays the news daily as one run by Brahmins as indicated by the janeu and the shikha. This use of imagery has been written about extensively in this article which shows how the Dravidians use Nazi-style propaganda to spread vitriol about Tamil Brahmins

Another DMK supporter named Arockia Edwin wrote “Thread has been and will be a threat always” vilifying those wearing the sacred thread (Brahmins).

Dravidar Kazhagam President K. Veeramani said “‘Dinamanu’ is the mirror of Agraharam (Brahmin locality). A reflection of Brahmin mindset”.

While many have condemned Dinamalar for the objectionable headline about a noble scheme, the episode has been twisted by DMK and other Dravidianists to spew venom against Hinduism and Tamil Brahmins. An X handle named anbudan Bala pointed out how problematic it is to equate Dinamalar with the entire Brahmin community and whether it would be right in violently abusing the perpetrator caste of the Vengaivayal incident.

Who Founded Dinamalar?

Dinamalar was founded by TV Ramasubbaiyer in 1951. The fact that the founder was a Tamil Brahmin was enough for the Dravidoids to start spewing venom against Tamil Brahmins as always.

Clarification Issued

The news daily has issued a clarification from the Editor K Ramasubbu saying the said news was not published in the Dinamalar editions of Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Pondicherry, Tirunelveli, and Nagercoil that are edited by Mr. K. Ramasubbu. This only appeared in the Dinamalar Erode and Salem editions of the newspaper edited by Mr. R. Sathyamurthy. 

Protests By DMK Supporters

The followers of the Dravidian ideology do not leave any stone unturned to mock, abuse, and spew venom at the Brahmins of the state and this is one such instance. The founder of the ideology, EV Ramasamy Naicker established the Dravidian ideology whose base or foundation is Brahmin hate. They also make it a habit to launch verbal assaults against Hinduism and Hindus.

The members of the DMK burnt copies of the newspaper in protest and have warned of further protests at Dinamalar offices in the coming days. 

Advertisement hoardings of the news daily have been torn down by supporters of the DMK.

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