A clipping of Dravidian speaker Periyar Selvan’s video where he is spreading canards on Brahmins has become viral on social media. This clipping is from a speech he made in May 2024. In this specific clipping, he derogates and spews venom on Dr M.K. Sambasiva Iyer, father of agricultural scientist Dr M.S. Swaminathan, by linking him to an alleged 1938 Kumbakonam Municipality resolution concerning the cleaning of latrines in Brahmin households.
In his speech, Periyar Selvam identified Sambasiva Iyer as the chairman of the Kumbakonam Municipality in 1938 and went on to describe a resolution allegedly moved by a municipal councillor named Narayanasivaiyer.
“Let me give you further evidence. Do you know how things were in this country? In 1938, Sambasiva Iyer was the chairman of the Kumbakonam Municipality. If anyone here has any doubts, go to Kumbakonam and see for yourselves—the bus stand there is actually named the Sambasiva Iyer Bus Stand. A municipal councilor named Narayanasivaiyer moved a resolution. The resolution stated that, from then on, Dalits should not clean the latrines of Brahmin households, because if a Dalit touched the waste, it would become “polluted.” If you have any doubts, this resolution still exists in the Kumbakonam Municipality’s records today; let anyone try to deny it. The idea was that touching the excrement would render it impure. That was when Periyar asked, “Are we considered more vile than excrement?” He urged the Brahmins to reform during his lifetime.”
the learned dravidian speaker Mr Periyarselvan is telling about Dr MK Sambasiva Iyer – father of Dr MS Swaminathan to the Tamil people.
A Gandhian friend of Harijans who died in 1936 and who abolished manual scavenging, helped build a modern hospital. @msswaminathan pic.twitter.com/2s6pJd7APT
— Reality Check India (@realitycheckind) September 9, 2026
While Selvan’s account names Sambasiva Iyer as the municipal chairman, he names a different councillor, identified as Narayanasivaiyer.
Nevertheless, Selvan has managed to create a misleading impression by invoking Sambasiva Iyer while recounting the resolution and subsequently associating his name with the episode.
This assumes greater significance given accounts of Sambasiva Iyer’s public life that portray him as a doctor and a Gandhian who worked for the welfare of Harijans.
According to these accounts, Dr M.K. Sambasiva Iyer was a surgeon and a true Gandhian. He was associated with the Harijan Sevak Sangh in Kumbakonam and helped underprivileged students pursue their education. He also served as chairman of the municipal council and, as a surgeon, provided medical treatment aimed at preventing the spread of filariasis in Kumbakonam.
He is also credited with participating in the Swadeshi movement, including a foreign-cloth-burning protest undertaken following Mahatma Gandhi’s direction, and with supporting the Harijan temple-entry movement.
His son, Dr M.S. Swaminathan, later became one of India’s foremost agricultural scientists.
This article is based on an X thread by Reality Check India.
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