Former Judge of the Supreme Court Markandey Katju who is known for speaking his mind in social media has once again caught his Tamil followers off guard with his comments on E.V. Ramasamy Naicker, known as ‘Periyar’ by his followers.
Mr. Katju who is quite active on social media and has been vocal about issues concerning Tamil Nadu, often gets embroiled in controversies for his comments.
In the latest one, he called E.V. Ramasamy Naicker, popularly hailed as ‘Periyar’ by his followers, as a ‘British agent’, ‘a traitor’ and ‘a rascal’.
He said “The British agent and traitor Periyar did not want freedom for India. So this rascal declared 15th August as a black day in his journal”
Periyar is known for founding the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is considered as the father of Dravidian movement and a harbinger of social justice who advocated atheism and rationalism targeted against Hindu religion. However, his critics call him a demagogue who advocated Nazi-style decimation of Brahmins.
He also advocated a formation of ‘Dravidistan’ along the lines of ‘Pakistan’. When Indian attained Independence from British rule on August 15, 1947, Periyar marked the day as ‘black day’.