TN: Irresponsible Politics, Regional Factional Aspirations

          DRAVIDIAN Movement which was started by E.V. Ramasamy Periyar and CN Annadurai in the 1920s when movement for Independence was in the development stage and later after 1947 has culminated into an ugly mud slanging in Tamil Nadu. Periyar, a non-Brahmin started the movement for getting social justice for poor, down-trodden  and deprived citizens whom he felt being exploited by upper caste and rich people. The root causes for this upper caste hegemony and exploitation could have been multiple; poverty, illiteracy and foreign rule over South Indian territories by French, British, Muslim invaders.

As the movement for Independence from British yoke gained strength desire for selecting own social grouping gathered in everyone’s mind, despite the fact that Gopalakrishnan Gokhle, MK Gandhi highlighted the need for ridding Indian Society from caste-system,  and its impact on the life of general public. Gandhi also started movement for Harijan’s  liberation from the yoke of upper castes who were forced to do all kind dirty errands for the rich and upper caste Zamindars.

Evil of Caste System: Although the evil of Caste system has prevailed over India for centuries and many Sant, reformers, preachers of human equality evangelists, tried to rid the country of this social malady, it has not been uprooted.  Indian Constitution gives equal rights and opportunities to all to avail facilities and resources of the nation; judicial machinery has made several judgments and directions of  Central, State Govts, political parties, it has not been eradicated over the centuries or during post independence years. There is an urgent need for such stringiest and time bound action if we have to succeed as a Largest and Civilized Democracy !

Else Political Opportunists will keep preying on the poor illiterate masses and go on ruling over them for many centuries !

Sanatan is Not the Culprit: Political attacks and rants over Sanatan Dharma in the Southern and even in many Northern regions is the result of misconception that Sanatan Dharma founded and promotes the Caste System in India. The fact is Manu, the son of Braham Dev in our Sanatan mythology segmented the state subjects into 4 categories; Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudras to allocate them separate duties and functions, which could help them get recognized at their Work Places.  It was Never a marking system by Birth or community settlement. ( Read Veda, Shastras, Chanakya Niti and thousands of scripts by Rishis on social structure of Matrilok, the Vasudha or the Global society, to understand Sanatan History and its development).

And Sanatan is not only a Dharma, it is a way of living, civilization and was not pronounced by any Prophet or Christ, it kept on developing, changing and assimilating good ideas and systems of life.

Caste System became more ruthless and mechanism for hegemony or exploitation after foreign invasions and conversions. Some ancient Gurus  taught princes the art of ruling by calling princes and nobles in their Ashrams. That could also have polluted the spirit of Sanatan system of life and growth. Entry of foreign powers into India forced kings and religious leaders to hide knowledge from masses and transfer to limited Loyal siblings only. That could have a short term strategy but not a rule or dictum.

Dilemma of National Language for communication among Indian citizens. Gandhi, Nehru and other freedom movement leaders  must have thought of evolving a common language system for Independent India, for fast and effective dialogue with masses. Hindi, the most popular language spread over large parts of North India must have been considered a convenient vehicle to reach out to masses as also to convey the message of governance and welfare schemes. Reach and prevalence of English language across British colonies was taken as an instance for communicating and uniting all regions into one Nation. Political and social leaders in some states smelled it as a threat to their mother language and were afraid only Hindi regions’ population will rule over them in Free India.

That resulted into a Dravidian Revolt. Formation of Justice Party in 2nd decade of last century and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1960s were the result of such misinformation and fight against exploitation.

Dravidian languages; Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malyalam united some regions of Southern states of Madras,

Kerala, Andhra  and Mysore which were part of  historical Vizianagaram and Chola empires. Tamil is established as the oldest language in the Indian peninsular South, being over 5,000 years old having scripts and monuments to support its prestigious past. But, as most states of India have local and regional languages like Bengali, Assamese, Bundelkhandi, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati and Kashmiri, their spread out may not be beyond 200-400 miles of their focal points.

So making an effort to have a National Language of communication among vast Indian State is not a bad idea or a crime for any Central Govt.  Regional politicians must rise above the petty politics and short term power gains, else the Indian State might break into smaller Riyasats or fiefdoms fighting with each others.  Language or Dharma are seldom the binding force among societies as much as their struggle for their daily  bread and butter is. In the present population explosion, Common Man is more worried of their 3-time meals for family and a better source of income. Religion or language come next on priority list.

But, Yes, Religion helps maintain an order and rule of moral law in their neighborhood and Society.                                 (….more later- EDITOR)