Special Reports Tamil Nadu

How Dravidian Stockists And Tamil Chauvinists Are Peddling Hate Against ‘North Indians’

February 17, 2023
Vallavaraayan

Violence against non-Tamil speaking migrant workers have been on the rise in Tamil Nadu in the recent weeks with hate campaigns unleashed against them by DMK Ministers and Dravidian Stockist along with Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi cadres.

Here a few instances where migrant labourers from other states have been abused, assaulted and sometimes killed.

Abused And Assaulted In A Moving Train

A video has gone viral on social media in which a Tamil-speaking man can be seen verbally abusing and assaulting north Indian passengers in the train.

In the above video, a man can be seen asking a another non-Tamil traveller “Tamil or Hindi?” to which another man from behind can be heard saying “all are Hindi, Hindi”.

He then hits another non-Tamil man and starts verbally abusing him.

“I am going to thrash you. Ng*tha Thev*d*ya paiyaa (son of a prostitute). K**dhi (female genitalia), you expect us to keep sucking in our place? I will keep my penis in Modi’s mouth. Thev*d*ya Paiyaa…. You expect us to suck cocks here? Thev*d*ya pasangala.”, he yells at a man.

Then he turns to another person and slaps him on the face asking “what are you staring at?”.

“These people come for work here but hit people.” another Tamil-speaking man can be heard saying in the video referring to the Tirupur incident.

The man keep continuously hitting and abusing the man. The man who is holding the camera can be heard saying “This is all being done by Modi”.

The entire incident happens in a moving train in the unreserved compartment where there were several non-Tamil migrants.

The Tamil Nadu Government Railway Police announced on social media that an FIR has been registered against the perpetrators.

West Bengal Migrant Worker Killed By Locals 

A Bengali construction worker who was stranded near Kelambakkam in Chengalpattu district was blindly attacked by local youths who mistook him for a thief. The severely injured worker died on the way to the hospital. Six people have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the attack.

The victim has been identified as Kshetra Mohan Burman from West Bengal, who was working on the construction site of the real estate firm Casa Grande in Kelambakkam, Chengalpattu district.

Mohan, who lives with the other North Indian workers, came out of his house for dinner on the night of the incident. He got stranded in Kaaranai Nehru Nagar after having dinner at a restaurant in the Kaaranai area as he forgot the route to his house. In this scenario, six local residents, Anand, Raja, Udhaya Kumar, Vignesh, Balamurugan, and Ramesh, allegedly attacked Mohan under the mistaken belief that he was there to steal.

After receiving information, Thaazhambur police arrived on the scene and moved Mohan in a ‘108 Ambulance’ to Chromepet government hospital with severe injuries. However, he died not responding to the treatment.

Local Workers Clash With Migrants In Tirupur

A migrant worker from a garment unit at Thilagar Nagar West in Velampalayam, stepped out for a break to a roadside shop on January 14. A local resident reportedly argued with him and blew cigarette smoke at his face. This enraged the worker and the argument turned physical. The migrant worker retaliated and moved away from the spot. Later, the local along with a few friends entered the garment unit and attacked the worker. With the support of his colleagues, he retaliated.

Students In Coimbatore College Attack Non-Tamil Mess Workers

Students at the RVS Engineering College in Kannampalayam, Coimbatore clashed with migrant workers at the college mess over the quality of chicken dish served.

A viral video shows hundred of students running towards one end of the hostel mess with sticks and rods in their hands.

The Divisive ‘Dravidian Model’ Politics

These multiple instances of violence against migrant workers from other states can be seen as a fallout of the hate campaign unleashed by DMK Minister and Dravidian Stockists along with other fringe outfits like Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi.

Radical Tamil Chauvinist Party Fear-Mongering About North Indians

Sebastian Seeman, the head of Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) is known for being a rabid demagogue whose politics has been based on othering non-Tamils in Tamil Nadu. His brand of Tamil nationalism bases itself on “Tamil Nadu for Tamils” advocating second-class treatment to non-Tamils.

In his political speeches, he has peddled hate against north Indians and even instigated violence against them.

In the above clip, Seeman says “Vadakkans, they will run helter-skelter. All the Hindi-speaking people will pack their bags and leave. I won’t know how many I will thrash. They will pack their bags in just one week.” threatening to slap false cases against them.

Idumbavanam Karthik, a Naam Tamilar cadre, has been spreading hatred against North Indians by uploading random videos from crowded places, such as markets or railway stations, and claiming that North Indians are flooding into Tamil Nadu in large numbers, which has no veracity.

Saattai Duraimurugan, another Naam Tamilar cadre and serial liar who was arrested and charged under the Goondas Act for spreading lies about Foxconn, has now posted a video on his YouTube channel in which he attempts to link all crimes in Tamil Nadu to North Indians. He claimed that North Indians bring drugs from their home state and sell them in Tamil Nadu in order to live a luxurious lifestyle.

DMK Leaders Peddling Hate Against North Indians

Recently, DMK Organizational Secretary RS Bharathi sparked a controversy by saying that North Indians sell panipuri in Tamil Nadu and the Governor is also like them. He also compared the Governor to a migrant worker from Bihar and said that he would not have left without being beaten had Jayalalithaa been alive.

There are multiple instances when DMK minister K. Pondmudi resorted to ridiculing north Indians as ‘paani poori sellers’.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma. Subramanian blamed ‘north Indians’ for rising number of COVID-19 cases in the state.

DMK Minister Moorthy in July 2022 instigated that Tamil people should chase away north Indian traders and businessmen.

“Only traders in Tamil Nadu should do business across the state. Businessmen from other states should not be allowed to do business in Tamil Nadu. There are lot of irregularities in businesses run by north Indians in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu businessmen should come forward to remove the northern state businessmen from Tamil Nadu.”, DMK Minister Moorthy said while speaking at an event in Madurai.

DMK MP from Dharmapuri DNV Senthilkumar while speaking about the National Education Policy in Lok Sabha said, “The goal of the government in the National Education Policy is to have a Gross Enrollment ratio (GER) of 50%. This has already been achieved by Tamil Nadu. Whereas, India’s national GER is around 24.6%. We are much ahead of the American GER. Why is it that the Central Government is seeing to thrust the National Education Policy upon us? We have set principles and we have set models, the Dravidian principle models, which are successful models. If they want to implement it to make India a developed state, let them implement Tamil Nadu’s model throughout the state. Instead, why is it being thrust upon us? We totally reject it. If they want, they can go implement them in Gomutra states, which they are very keen upon.”

In an interview to Hindustan Times, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan said that he can’t fathom how the BJP keeps getting re-elected in the ‘Hindi Belt’ and wondered if lack of education is the reason for it.

 

While on one hand political outfits have been peddling hatred against north Indian migrant labourers, popular Youtube Channels and other social media handles have been stereotyping and spreading racist canards against people of other states.

Slurs like ‘Vadakkan’, ‘Paani Puri wala’ ‘Panparag vaayan’ have been normalised through social media. Recently a popular YouTube channel named Paridhabangal, led by Gopi and Sudhakar, released a video attempting to portray North Indians in a negative light through their jokes and videos.

It is this visceral hate of the DMK and NTK towards north Indians that is spilling over to the larger society and impacting the lives of several people.

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