After exposing the links between News 18 Tamil Nadu, Karuppar Koottam, DK, and the DMK, Maridhas in his latest video sheds light on the blatant lie peddled by the DK and DMK about E.V. Ramasamy Naicker (known by his followers as Periyar). He highlights two issues that warrants everybody’s attention – the so called ‘UNESCO award’ and the Periyar statues placed opposite to temples in Tamil Nadu
The truth behind UNESCO award
For long, it has been said, written and ingrained in the minds of people that EVR was conferred with the title of “Socrates of South-East Asia” by the UNESCO. This had found its place even in school textbooks of Tamil Nadu and was even asked as a question in annual examinations and Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission exams.
However, this award has turned out to be a sham. An email response from the UNESCO office in Delhi has confirmed that no such award/title was given to E.V. Ramasamy Naicker.
Even in the award, there exists a conspicuous error. The title of the award says “Socrates of South-East Asia”. India does not fall under the South-East Asia grouping. The South-East nations include Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. India comes under South Asia and not South-East Asia.
For more than 40 years, this lie has been peddled with several articles and research papers on EVR written based on this lie. None in the media or those belonging to the ‘intellectual’ circle who speak of facts has ever opened their mouths about this blatant lie peddled.
Then who gave the award to EVR? It was none other than late former DMK leader M. Karunanidhi in the presence of Dravida Kazhagam President K. Veeramani.
EVR statues outside temples
On 24th January 1973, the then DMK government under M. Karunanidhi had constituted the “Periyar Statue Committee” through a G.O. (G.O.Ms. No. 162)
Through this, the DMK government had appropriated several small pieces of land from different corporations and municipalities and had given it to the Dravida Kazhagam party. The DK then built statues on these lands situated just opposite to Hindu temples using public money given to them by the government.
This Maridhas says is not out of Karunanidhi’s adoration for Periyar. A couple of years before that, Karunanidhi even took jibes and criticized EVR. The Periyar Statue Committee was constituted for political purposes.
In 1972, Dr. M.G. Ramachandran quit the DMK to form his own party – All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). As a response to this, Karunanidhi in order to show that the DMK was a party driven by Dravidian ideology unlike the AIADMK that was helmed by a cinema star, formed the Periyar Statue Committee to prove his Dravidian credentials.
Hence, Maridhas mentions that Periyar statues built across Tamil Nadu in several places was built for political purposes, using public money given to a political party and that too in front of Hindu temples.
The pedestal of EVR’s statues is inscribed with the words “There is no God. God does not exist. He who created God is a fool”. This however, cannot be found in front of a mosque or church for reasons best known.
Towards the end of the video Maridhas urges the public to take the initiative once again to reach out to the Tamil Nadu mainstream news channels regarding the “Socrates of South-East Asia” award and ask them about when they will hold a debate on the matter. Along with this, he also urges to file an RTI (Right to Information) with the Tamil Nadu government to obtain information on the total area allocated for building EVR statues, the number of statues built so far, how many of them were built outside temples, mosques and churches, and the total money allocated for this purpose. He equated it with the statues built by Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh during her government which was struck down by the Supreme Court.