Periyar

'Kill the brahmin, if you see him with a snake' - The words of Periyar. Let me start with identifying myself as an NBbF caste. The very fact that I have to establish my caste credentials while writing something disagreeing with the ideology of Periyar is quite sadly the real legacy of Periyar today.

Periyar fought for the elimination of caste, which somewhere midway lost route and became anti-brahmin, anti-Hindu. He even encouraged people to convert to Christianity and Islam during the course of his various movements.

Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was born in Erode, Madras Presidency, British India, on 17 September 1879. His name was Erode Venkata Ramasamy, and he was a businessman, politician, social activist and he was the founder of the Dravidian Movement.

Periyar also started the self-respect movement that is today the roots of the DK or Dravida Kalagham. Today the Dravidian parties that have been in power for most of the time since Independence are DMK and ADMK. Both these parties have a populist, social-democratic orientation by virtue of their roots.

But why is there a caste problem that still resonates all over Tamil Nadu even today? We still have caste cards played out in full for votes. And, non-Brahmin vs Dalit conflict has been growing in all scales. The Vanniyar Dalit, Thevar Dalit conflicts in south Tamil Nadu are still there today. Quite recently in Ramanathapuram a Thevar caste leader made a speech that was regarded as directly inciting violence on Dalits. We have the undemocratic quota or reservation in almost all places of work and sadly in education as well. Probably because the very foundation of the the Dravida Kalagham is based quite strongly yet loosely on Communism and never on the concept of "all are equal under the eyes of law".

Maybe Periyar fought to eliminate caste. But his movement was largely never one. It was only politicised and became a vote earning machine. For instance the concept of self-respect led TN to be the first state to legalize Hindu marriages without the Brahmin priest. This law was passed in 1967 by the then Chief Minister Thriu Annadurai of DMK. Allowing non Brahmin priests in Sanctum Santorum, performing rituals in Tamil are some of the achievements today of Dravida Kalagham.

The problem with the Periyar anti-brahmin idealogy is that it created a non-erasable identity for Dalit in the society. But it didn't stop there, it also gave rise to people identifying their own castes in the society and creating entities for the castes. It also created an elite circle of people who fought for the Dalit, who eventually become subjects of some political party enabling DMK or ADMK stay in power. When the dalit identity was strengthened, so did the other caste identities and probably today Tamil Nadu is probably home to many such caste political parties. Needless to mention the minorities that welcomed the Dalits into their fold, did so only to strengthen their own political interests.

As all the caste parties strenghted from Periyar time and since 1971 it is only DMK or ADMK that has been in power in Tamil Nadu simply using the local caste politics for vote bank. This caste politics has not yet come to a logical conclusion in Tamil Nadu. Uplifting the Dalits and reservation for minorities have been the top agenda for every political party for half a century, but never political isolation of the caste system. Not even in papers. All these have become mutually inclusive in Dravidan politics today. So it is quite clear that fighting with the anti-Hindu weapon against caste was only an political intent and never for social justice.

Eradication of exploitation of blacks started in 1950's in US. I took a decade or two for it to become negligible and today Afro Americans no longer face the racism their previous generations had to face. The only known example one can quote is Obama. This happens in a plural society and India is also a plural society. Eventually people would have shed this caste identity. I have.

MT Opinion: If we forget Periyar, the caste will eventually be eradicated. As long as Periyar's anti-brahmin anti-Hindu arguments are floating, there will equally opposite pro-hindu ideas.

By keeping the Periyar lamp alive, the society has become sufferers of an undemocratic quota system and caste votes. His ideologies in today's India is a greater burden than anything else.

Footnote:
1. All bold words can be searched directly on internet for further details. Wiki for instance.
2. If you are still interested in knowing my caste which I have not disclosed...