Geographically, Tripura is far away in the northeast for the people of Tamil Nadu. The victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Tripura Assembly elections would have been a one line news for them. But the results were bound to have political ramifications even in this southern state.
Hours after it was clear that BJP won in Tripura, a statue of Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin was razed down to ground. Minutes after the incident, a senior BJP leader in Tamil Nadu took to social media to say, “Today it is Lenin's statue in Tripura, tomorrow it will be the statue of caste fanatic EVR Ramasamy”
This statement from the BJP’s national secretary H. Raja led to much anger among the political parties, fringe groups and the general public in the state, where Periyar still lives in the minds of people as a symbol of resistance against oppressive forces, a symbol of rationalistic pride and, more than these, as a philosophy that makes the Tamils rediscover themselves each time they face oppression and each time they go out to vote.
Protests broke out across the state with sporadic violence reported in a few places. At Tirupatur, down south, a Periyar statue was defaced allegedly by BJP activists. In Chennai, as a mark of protest, the sacred thread of four Brahmin priests were cut off by unidentified people.
In a video post, actor Sathyaraj, who has played the lead character as Periyar, in the movie Periyar, hit back at BJP over the statue row. “Periyar is not a statue, not a name, not a body, not a mortal made of blood, flesh and bones. Periyar is a philosophy. He is an ideology created for the freedom of the working class, for the freedom of women, for abolishing superstition. He doesn’t merely live as a statue, he lives in our hearts. H. Raja must apologise, the Tamil Nadu government must take legal action against him,” Sathyaraj said.
In a tweet, actor Vivek said, “Periyar’s atheism might not go well with the believers. But his contribution like women freedom, self-respect movement and the pains he took always stand out beyond time.”
The opposition DMK and the ruling AIADMK expressed their displeasure and carried out token protests to condemn Raja's comment. MDMK leader Vaiko said: “Whoever touches Periyar statue, his hands and legs will be chopped.” Actor-turned politician and Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan called the Facebook post by Raja as a planned attempt to divert the state’s attention from Cauvery issue. He demanded that Raja apologise. “He has expressed his regrets. He should apologise,” Kamal Haasan said.
Who is Periyar?
Raja’s post and the sporadic incidents of violence thereafter have only made the people of the state talk more about Periyar and his ideologies. The statues of Periyar are just the depiction of an old bespectacled man, with grey hair and long beard, sporting a walking stick in his hand. But it was the far-reaching radical ideas and far-fetched thinking and philosophies of this man that moulded the Dravidian land of today. It was his rationalistic thinking that laid the basics for the principles of rationalism and social equality in Tamil Nadu. In fact, it was Periyar’s ideologies that moulded the Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu. The social justice movement and then the Dravida Kazhagam, followed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (DMK) and Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) are just the extensions or break away factions of Periyar’s principles.
Born in 1879, E.V. Ramasamy Naicker was initially a member of the Indian National Congress. But later he had differences with its leaders and quit the posts he held in Erode municipality. The difference in opinion arose as Periyar believed that the the party leaders would neither speak against the caste system nor subscribe to his appeal for reservation of jobs in government services for the underprivileged. This was what took him up. More than his rationalism and atheism, what still makes him stand as a philosophy among the people of the state is his self-respect movement, which the people even now holds up against the BJP and its leaders.
“Periyar is the fort that protects Fort St George from the modern day Hindutva invasion and cultural imposition that has spread everywhere,” said Manuraj Shunmugasundaram, DMK spokesperson. Today, after his death, Periyar is still a symbol of resistance against the oppressive forces. Apparently, Periyar will be known for ages because of his self-respect movement and for his atheistic principles.
It is actually a wrong understanding among so many people that Periyar’s contribution is just atheism and that he was against believers. It was much more to self-respect movement than atheism. The fact of the matter is Periyar contributed to self respect movement which helped hundreds of backward and MBC who rose from their lower status to middle and upper middle class status. His another contribution is for the upliftment of the down-trodden and underprivileged, especially the backward communities.
“You can find sadhus, people wearing rudhrakshas and even people sporting the sacred ash on their forehead roaming inside Periayar thidal (a huge premises that houses Periyar movement’s office). This is totally an unbelievable scene for a foreigner who visits Periyar thidal, because he or she will struggle a lot to understand how Periyar even after 40 years of death still holds relevance to enlighten people—lower, middle and upper middle class people and even the god fearing believers. History will always remember Periyar not as an atheist leader but as a champion for upliftment of backward communities. He gave self respect to Tamils,” says Journalist R. Mani.
Even while the right wing activists and RSS sympathisers in Tamil Nadu continue to stress on his second name, Naicker, the community he belonged to, he is referred to as only Periyar (elder) and an icon among the people of the state. He had an iconoclastic approach and an open mind for any criticism that came across his way. When someone referring to his atheistic belief asks him “what would you do, if the God comes before you? He would respond saying “I will accept him, if he comes.” Periyar’s role in education, formation of policies for reservation of jobs for the under-privileged and women’s empowerment has made him stand for ages not just as an icon but as a philosophy and as an ideology.