In a blatant distortion of history, the name of E.V. Ramasamy Naicker (hailed as ‘Periyar’ by his admirers) has been found in the list of freedom fighters prepared by Doordarshan Kendra and All India Radio Chennai for production of programmes for ‘Azadi Ka Amrimahotsav’ marking the the 75th year of independence.
The list comprising of 75 freedom fighters mentions ‘Periyar E.V. Ramasamy’ in the fifth place while pushing the actual freedom fighters like Vanchinathan, Tirupur Kumaran, Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Subramania Siva to 15th, 16th, 18th and 20th positions respectively.
The list leaves out many of the prominent freedom fighters of the region like ‘Jai Hind’ Chempakaraman Pillai, Veeramangai Kuyili, Va.Ve.Su. Iyer, etc.
E.V. Ramasamy Naicker is a rabid anti-Hindu bigot known for his pro-British stance when the Indian Freedom Struggle was its peak. He pleaded with the British to not leave India and pledged allegiance to them asking the Madras Presidency to be ruled from London. He even went to the extent of demanding a separate Dravida Naadu and had met Mohammad Ali Jinnah regarding the same.
Another personality mentioned in the list having no connection with the freedom movement is Marshal Nesamony. Marshal Nesamony hails from the Travancore kingdom and was never in the freedom movement against the British. He was part of the movement to annex Kanyakumari district to Tamil Nadu from the Travancore State at the later stage after opposing the same initially.
The Vedic Science Research Centre, a research think-tank from Chennai has written to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to correct the glaring fallacy.
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