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The Mainstreaming Of Hate Against Tamil Brahmins: A Walk Down The Dravidoid Alley

Kaushik Ramasamy

In an interview to ANI, Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai compared the plight of Tamil Brahmins to that of Jews under the Nazis. He said that some of the best talents of Tamil Nadu is living outside Tamil Nadu because of the anti-Brahmin socio-political climate that prevailed during the hey days of Dravidian movement. Immediately, many pounced on the BJP leader saying that he trivilaized the plight of Jews by comparing them to a privilege community on top of the caste hierarchy.

This article does not go into the merits of whether Tamil Brahmins were persecuted by Dravidian Stockists or not, like the Jews were driven out by Nazis. However, this article will show how Dravidian Stockists have been mainstreaming hate against the community through high octane propaganda just like the Nazis unleashed against the Jews.

The ‘Thread’ Jibe And Other Sly Jibes

A journalist from The News Minute (TNM) named Balakrishna Ganeshan spewed casteist venom against Tamil Brahmins. Alleged ‘neutral’ political commentator Dr. Sumanth Raman had said that while millions of genuinely disadvantaged need the benefits of reservation, the current reservation system was exploited by those who are socio-economically well off! He had put a series of tweets to one Soumitra Pathare supporting Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota.

Reacting to one tweet of Sumanth Raman, The News Minute journalist Balakrishna Ganeshan put out a pun intended tweet saying “This thread (andha thread ah thaan sonna)” referring to the poonool/janeu (sacred thread) worn by Brahmins.

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan himself had abused a woman journalist by invoking her Tamil Brahmin identity.

Another journalist if The News Minute Bharathy Singaravel is known for peddling hate against Brahmins. She once used the word “Paarpaan” – a derogatory and genocidal term used against Tamil Brahmins – to call out the Brahmin identity of a defence policy analyst.

In another tweet, she wrote that Tamil freedom fighter Vanchinathan who is a Brahmin and killed British Collector Robert Ashe disgusts her.

Rangarajan Mohan Kumaramangalam, the President of Tamil Nadu unit of All Indian Professional Congress took a jibe at the Brahmin community stereotyping them as a ‘shy lot’.

The Pastoral Community Jibe

A seminar was held recently by the Department of History at New College in Chennai under the name Dravidian Historical Research Center. Karunanandan, the alleged professor, spewed venom on the Brahmin caste and the Rig Veda throughout his speech to prove his claim that the Aryan Dravidam race exists in India.

He said, “You are a pastoral community that moves from place to place and does not practise idol worship, but we are not nomads and do practise idol worship. The enemies of the Rig Veda were those who lived inside a fort and did agriculture in India. I wonder who the people that lived in forts and practised agriculture when Aryans came to this land as mentioned in Rig Veda. It should be us, the Dravidians. Should we consider this uncultured, nomadic, pastoral people as the son of soils? Certainly not. Aryans wore animal skin clothing, whereas we wore wool clothing. They (Aryans) only eat Yava, which is barley. Only in the later Vedic period they came to know about rice, which was mentioned as Grihi in Rig Veda. But, people who originated in this land were familiar with rice and wheat because they learned the practise from the Indus Valley Civilization.”

He stated, “Our people believed the words of Brahmins who claimed that they could do anything we wanted with the Vedas. The Kings believed it first, then the common people. This is where we got caught in their web. According to Vaishnavam, doing trade and business is a bad profession; crossing borders and travelling across seas is a sin; and higher caste people are forbidden from doing agriculture. But these are the identities of Dravidians. Previously, they (Brahmins) were afraid of losing their caste if they crossed the sea. However, they are now doing it for monetary gain. If you give them money, they’ll do anything. Now, even their god has crossed the seas. We oppose Sanskrit because it considers working people’s profession to be disgusting work. They wrote all of the laws in Sanskrit but prohibited ordinary people from learning it. Sanskrit could only be studied by Brahmins. Only by understanding and becoming aware of this you will achieve true freedom.”

Another prominent Dravidian Stockist is Dr. K. Kantharaj who is known for his hate-speech against Brahmins. Calling Brahmins derogatarily as “Paapara Paya”, he goes on to say in an interview “Who are you? You are an Aryan. An immigrant. What is the connection between you and this country? You were rearing cows for a living in Central Asia. How did you come here? You and your religion do not belong here. It is there in history. You came into this country riding cows. You are today claiming this to be your country?”.

“You better go to your own country. Go there. There only you (Tamil Brahmins) were thrashed by Chengiz Khan and Taimur. You came here whimpering.”, he says in that interview.

Calling For Genocide

DMK spokesperson Rajiv Gandhi posted on his Twitter advocating genocide against the Tamil Brahmin community.

A brazen call for genocide was given by ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in 1973 at Karikudi, Tamil Nadu.

Sharing this speech snippet on his Twitter, A-Z commentator Sumanth Raman drew the attention of the people living in the rest of India to understand the hate peddled against Tamil Brahmins in Tamil Nadu.

He also added that the genocide did not happen thanks to Indira Gandhi, and AIADMK supremos M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa.

Responding to this tweet, DMK spokesperson Rajiv Gandhi wrote “Had only the Shudras carried out Periyar’s instructions, they wouldn’t have to fight with people like you today to get justice, employment, rights, education, employment and equality. At 3% you are still encroaching a lot of the space.”

Earlier in December 2021, Savukku Shankar, a DMK sympathizer and a ‘Periyar’ist, who is known for being a motor mouth posted on his social media promoting genocide against Tamil Brahmins.

Taking to both Twitter and Facebook, he had written, “If it is justified to trouble Muslims today, because of how Muslim kings had troubled us in the past, then why haven’t we started troubling Brahmins for the troubles they have given us in the past?” The post was deleted from Facebook after it was reported, as it went against the platform’s community guidelines. However, it is still available on Savukku Shankar’s twitter.

Targeted Harassment

Mr. Arivumathi, a mainstream Dravidian Stockist lyricist while speaking in a literary event held in Chennai, said ”The name of my village starts with ”Su”. It means ”Sudethriya Gramam”. It was a grant of land, typically by a king or a landlord in India, particularly to Brahmins as Agraharam. That is my hometown, Su. Keenanoor near Vridhachalam in Cuddalore district. In that place Brahmins were the only rulers, they owned about 1500 acres. In those lands, we, the Most backward Caste and SC Caste whose only purpose was to serve them.

He further added ”They were toiling for them by Grazing Goats and Cows without slippers, they heaped goods for them. They were being crushed. Slowly due to Father Periyar who shone Light on our town, some enlightened youth went inside the Brahmin’s Agraharam. They threw dried fish heads, bones of goat inside via rooftops. The Brahmin women folk, who avoid seeing shudras faces, would go to Mannimuthar River for morning bath. There, our boys would dig holes, then put cactus inside those holes. When their Ladies went to bath, they would fall into the trap hole.”

He then concluded ”The Brahmins realised that ‘Tamils’ have awakened and under these circumstances, they can’t live in this town anymore. This is how we have driven out every single Brahmin. This is my Dravidian movement”.

Kannabiran Ravishankar who is known for distorting Hindu scriptures and fomenting hatred against Tamil Brahmin community with vile casteist abuses, has made several derogatroy and vulgar remarks with his tweets having foul language objectifying Tamil Brahmin women. He had even used private photos of Tamil brahmin families including that of children to spew the Dravidian ‘anti-Brahmin’ vitriol.

Cutting The Sacred Thread

Dravidian Stockist Suba Veerapandian, who runs a fringe outfit Dravida Iyakka Tamilar Peravai, hreatened to cut the poonool (sacred thread) of Badri Seshadri (publisher of Kizhakku Padhippagam) for his comments about DMK founder Annadurai. While addressing a crowd from stage adorned by DMK MPs and Ministers said, “Poonool (janeu) which was hiding so far has come out and given courage to Badri to call Anna an idiot. Remember that if the arrogance continues, the poonool will be cut.”

He said, “We were kind enough to continue allowing them (the Brahmins) to hold public office while we were in power. Do not test our patience.”

Vanni Arasu, the Deputy General Secretary of VCK warned that when Thirumavalavan becomes the leader of Tamil Nadu, a rule will be brought to ban the wearing of ‘poonool’ (sacred thread/ janeu).

All these speeches do not remain speeches. It spills over to the ground. In 2020, The temple priest of Varadaraja Perumal Temple of Arasar Kovil near Maduranthakam in Chengalpattu district was attacked and his poonool (sacred thread) was cut off by two Christian men.

In 2018, ten Bramhin men were attacked and their sacred threads cut off in Chennai’s Triplicane area (an area where Brahmin population is concentrated).

Propaganda To Vilify

The DMK through its social media handles has been posting comic posts titled ‘Dravidathaal Vaazhgirom’ narrating the party’s origins and the so-called ‘Dravidian Movement’.

In one such post that was posted on 14 February 2023, the comic story board attacks the Tamil Brahmin community by stereotyping them and peddling propaganda against them.

This comic strip was shared by the DMK IT wing with the caption “The mob, sanctifying their birth and living in obscurity, conspired to destroy the unity among non-Brahmins!”.

Isai, the State Deputy Secretary of the DMK’s IT wing, had spread hatred against Brahmins and misinformation about EWS (Economically Weaker Section) reservation on his Twitter handle.

The image posted by the DMK IT Wing Deputy Secretary showed a person dressed as a Brahmin with sacred thread (Janeu) and having “Thirunamam” on his forehead, sucking juice from his own glass as well as the glass that belongs to OBCs. The tweet was intended to imply that Brahmins are taking the reservation meant for OBCs following the implementation of the Central government’s 10% EWS reservation.

In yet another rabid attack on Brahmins by the DMK, the party’s IT Cell members and sympathizers on social media have been putting out vitriolic posts against Brahmins with the hashtag #நூலிபான்கள் (‘Noolibangal’ – ‘Nool’ in Tamil means thread denoting the ‘poonool’ or ‘janeu’), equating Brahmins with Talibans.

In Jai Bhim, a film which seems to have been taken to coax the DMK, Suriya can be seen subtly spreading canards about Brahmins. Actor MS Bhaskar who is shown as a Brahmin lawyer (Sankaran) uttering ‘Sivaya Namaha’ quite often, approaches Suriya (Chandru) in the corridors of the court to apparently appreciate Suriya.

Here is how the interaction goes:

Sankaran: Chandru.. Very good ya. This haebus corpus case would’ve been dismissed in 2 minutes. You quoted the Rajan case! Sivaya Namaha! That was a wise move! The case has now come in your favour.

Chandru: No sir. I feel I’m handling this case wrong.

Sankaran: No no no. I’m telling you. You’re on the right path. 

Chandru: No sir. If you’re being so positive, then there must be something wrong that I am doing. 

In the above interaction, the character Chandru implies that Brahmins are nefarious and not to be trusted.

If in cinema, they are made objects of ridicule, the Dravidian Stockist literature is filled with Nazi-level propaganda that would wake Joseph Goebells from the dead.

Senthilvel, who also runs his own Tamil YouTube channel called ‘Tamil Kelvi’ resorted to spreading fake news and caste hatred claiming that the teacher accused of sexual harassment at PSBB school was an ‘Iyer’.

“In social media, it is being said that the accused teacher is Rajagopalan. Rajagopalan Iyer. The person named Rajagopalan Iyer has behaved in this manner.”, he says in his video at 4:44. He keeps repeating that the teacher’s name is Rajagopalan Iyer again and again throughout the video. However, the truth is that the accused teacher did not belong to the Brahmin community.

Shalin Maria Lawrence who identifies herself as a ‘Dalit Christian’ had once alleged that her wifi connection stopped working becasuse her ‘Brahmin neighbour’ messed with the cables which was passing through the latter’s house. She said that since the ‘Brahmin neighbour’ did not want the WiFi connection running through her house she tampered with the cables because of which her internet stopped working.

Who Will Speak Up?

Despite all the vilification, harassment and venom spewed, the Tamil Brahmin community, especially those who are economically weaker have just gone about their work. They haven’t even been able to organize themselves and demand the implementation of EWS quota. Sometimes they have to put up with members of their own ilk from privileged urban background going woke like TM Krishna, who for the sake of self-aggrandizement go about virtue-signaling with lofty talks and intellectual gymnastics. Ironically, it is these privileged, rich, woke, champagne socialists who throw around their weight wherever they go while the Vedic Pandits, Soundis and Sivachariyars become the target of hate for no reason

The Tamil Brahmin community have been made the punching bag by the politically powerful elite non-Brahmin communities (Mudaliar, Naidu, Reddy, Pillai and Chettiar) despite purging them away from corridors of power. Yet these non-Brahmin elites (Dravidian Stock) whip up passions among Other Backward Class (OBC) and Scheduled Castes (SC) by othering the Tamil Brahmin in order to cover up their feudal history of oppressing the downtrodden.

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