In 1946, when the Dravidar Kazhagam was unveiling its flag, a 23-year-old man made a cut on his hand and smeared a black cloth with his blood.
DMK chief returns to rebellious past to validate claim of being Periyar’s rightful heir
CHENNAI: In 1946, when the Dravidar Kazhagam was unveiling its flag, a 23-year-old man made a cut on his hand and smeared a black cloth with his blood. “This is our flag. We will give our blood for this,” proclaimed the descendants of the Self Respect Movement. Three years later, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was born.
The youngster who gave his blood is today 84 years old and answers to the name Muthuvel Karunanidhi. The Tamil Nadu chief minister’s recent remarks on Ram are but an effort to return to his rebellious past and revalidate his claim of being the rightful heir to EV Periyar Ramaswamy, the iconoclast of Dravidian rebellion.
The hatred for Ram, and hence the love for Ravana, has been Periyar's consistent ammo to hit out at upper castes.
The first DMK government paid tributes to Periyar by lifting the ban on a book eulogising Ravana by Pulavar Kulandai titled Ravana Kavyam, which was banned by the previous Congress government. “Karunanidhi inherited Periyar's rebellious streak and now he is playing it up," said sociologist MSS Pandian.
Karunanidhi got the first political validation of his anti-Ram posture in the 1972 simultaneous elections. During the run-up to the polls, Periyar organised a rationalists' conference in Salem and burnt an effigy of Ram. Kamaraj's Old Congress, C Rajagopalachari's Swatantra Party, Jan Sangh and a host of Hindu outfits joined hands and asked people to vote against the anti-Hindu DMK. But the DMK bagged 184 of the 234 seats and Kamaraj was the only Old Congress candidate to win a Lok Sabha seat in the state.
Political observers believe that times have changed, but Karunanidhi wants to test if they really have. "Towards the fag end of his career, Karunanidhi wants to be remembered as another Periyar," said Vaasanthi, author of "Cut-Outs, Caste and Cine Stars: The World of Tamil Politics". "But he should know that Periyar lived in different times," she added.
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