Chandra Chaitanya, the titular 42nd Raja of the Ettayapuram Samasthanam, has responded to Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his reference to “21st-century Ettappan” while criticising those supporting the proposed Delimitation Bill, as reported in Times of India.
Rahul Gandhi made the remarks while addressing reporters in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, on Saturday. Describing the proposed delimitation exercise as a “conspiracy” by the BJP, he alleged that it was aimed at reducing Tamil Nadu’s political influence.
“There is an attempt by the BJP to carry out delimitation. It is designed to disenfranchise people and take away the political power of the people of Tamil Nadu. This is a BJP conspiracy,” Rahul Gandhi said.
He added, “There was a historical character in Tamil Nadu called Ettappan. Ettappan is basically symbolic of the betrayal of the people of Tamil Nadu. Anyone who supports delimitation is betraying Tamil Nadu, betraying the future of Tamil Nadu, and allowing the RSS and BJP to attack the people of Tamil Nadu and its future. Such a person is a 21st-century ‘Ettappan’.”
Appealing to the people of the state and political parties to oppose the proposal, Rahul Gandhi added, “No Tamil person should support delimitation. Every Tamil person should oppose delimitation. Every Tamil party and every national party should defeat delimitation in the House.”
Rahul Gandhi’s remarks come amid speculation that the Centre may reintroduce the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which proposes increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha to up to 850 seats and implementing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, providing 33% reservation for women in legislatures.
The speculation has been fuelled by political realignments ahead of the Monsoon Session, which have boosted the BJP-led NDA’s numbers in Parliament.
Reports have also suggested that the DMK, whose ties with the Congress have reportedly become strained, has softened its stance on the Bill, provided it does not reduce the Lok Sabha representation of southern states. The two parties parted ways after the DMK lost the Tamil Nadu Assembly election in April, following which the Congress extended support to actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay’s TVK, helping it form the government.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s comments on Sunday, Chandra Chaitanya urged the Congress leader to familiarise himself with the history of the Ettayapuram Samasthanam and highlighted the contributions made by the royal family to social reform.
He started off by saying, “Tonight I was deeply saddened and shocked to see the statement that was made by the honorable leader of opposition in parliamentary Rahul Gandhi wherein he has mentioned the names of my ancestors in a very derogatory way. In fact, the way the statement was worded made it seem like as though our betrayal had been against the people of Tamil Nadu, people of the Tamil people and not only is it false, but this nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, we have the pride in saying that we are one of the families who have contributed to the Muthamizh which is Tamil literature, poetry and plays and we have been patrons of national poets like Subramanya Bharati and Kumaraguru and so on. So, we have the history of the Ettayapuram Samasthanam and the history behind the name of Ettappan is so wonderful and completely different from the derogatory way in which it was portrayed in that one film subsequent or to which or previously has never has that name been used in a bad way.”
He continued, “I would have hoped that people especially political leaders would exercise more caution uh when they make such statements. We have taken as a collective effort myself and the people of Ettayapuram and the people of multiple villages surrounding who were once part of the larger Samasthanam. Lakhs of people. We have campaigned for this name to be used in the proper way and not be misused in such political attacks especially and we had approached the education minister in the previous government and in the current government to ensure that reforms will be made with regard to this and we had even organized a protest last year to bring awareness to the fact that the name the name is being misused in such a manner. And I’m stunned to see that still this is the same sort of uh thing that is continuing and now it has taken a position in the national stage.
So with regard to this I have only probably two things to say to the honorable leader of opposition parliament Rahul Gandhi.”
He added, “Firstly, I really sincerely hope that you, Rahul Gandhi, will take a moment to learn about the actual history of Ettayapuram Samasthanam. We were among the earliest people to advocate and campaign for education for girls as early as the late 1800s,” Chaitanya said.
He added, “We were the first people to implement the midday meal scheme in Tamil Nadu. We were one of the earliest people to involve ourselves in the Temple Entry Movement, which is important for social justice.”
Rejecting the historical portrayal associated with the name Ettappan, Chaitanya said, “Despite all this, if somebody is still telling you that we were traitors to anyone, in fact, nobody bearing the name of Ettappan has ever betrayed anyone and if somebody is still feeding these lines to you, they are only feeding you the script of a movie, which has nothing to do with actual history.”
He also urged Rahul Gandhi to verify historical references before making public statements.
“Secondly, before you make a statement, especially if that is going to involve some sort of a historical reference, ensure that you are getting your facts correct; for us, this undoes the amount of work that we have put into bringing awareness to this false portrayal… do not use us as collateral damage in your political war of words,” Chaitanya said.
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