Opinion | DMK’s Drive For Social Justice is a Sham – News18

Tamil Nadu Minister and son of Chief Minister MK Stalin, Udhayanidhi Stalin’s vulgar outburst at the conference organised by the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Artists Association in Chennai on September 2, 2023, is a classic and typical example of the bigotry, double standards, ignorance and hypocrisy that underlies the DMK ideology. At the meeting, Udhayanidhi had declared that Sanatana Dharma is against the idea of social justice and went on to say, “Few things cannot be opposed; they should only be abolished. We can’t oppose dengue, mosquitoes, malaria, or coronavirus, we have to eradicate them. In the same way, we have to eradicate Sanatana. Rather than merely opposing Sanatana, it should be eradicated.”

Despite its oft-repeated peans to high-sounding principles like rationality and social justice, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is in reality a toxic cauldron of discrimination, bigotry and ignorance. To expose this ugly truth of the DMK, we need to examine its origin which is based on a false premise, scrutinise the deeds and words of the man who is revered as its fountainhead — EV Ramasamy Naicker, popularly known as EVR — and review the party’s actions when in power.

The ideological origin of the DMK is centred around the now defunct and discredited Aryan Invasion theory that attempted to portray an illusionary North-South divide in India as an outcome of invading Aryans dominating indigenous Dravidians. Despite the Aryan Invasion theory being irrefutably disproven, the DMK continues to disseminate this falsehood to mislead the public and remain politically relevant.

A review of the words and actions of EVR who serves as an inspiration for the present-day DMK reveals an abominable picture of hate. EV Ramasamy was a political activist (1879-1973) who rose to head the Justice Party (a political party prominent in Tamil Nadu in the early 20^th century) and renamed it as the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) which is the forerunner of the present DMK.

Transforming his animosity towards Brahmin dominance into a generalised hatred for Hinduism, he carried out a relentless campaign to undermine Hinduism. In that process, he instituted a culture of hate that remains entrenched in Tamil Nadu even today. Derogatory terms like “Pappans” are used to describe members of one community and the adage “when you see a Pappan and a snake, kill the Pappan first” has become common folklore in Tamil Nadu. Furthermore, this translates to actual discrimination at the ground level. While studying in the neighbouring Union Territory of Pondicherry in the 1970s, this author was witness to scores of deserving students who had sought refuge in the UT to escape the DMK’s discriminatory dragnet.

There is no denying that exploitation by any community has to be countered. However, the panacea for one type of discrimination is not another and hate cannot be replaced by hate; this negates the very idea of an egalitarian society. Encouraging public destruction of Hindu idols and burning of images of Hindu Gods was the highlight of EVR’s warped activism. Ganapathi statues were destroyed and pictures of Lord Rama were burnt.

With regard to the controversial Salem 1971 incident, S Robertson, a religious scholar writing in the Indian Journal of Theology (2003) states: “In 1971, Periyar organised a superstition eradication campaign in Salem. In this conference, Rama’s image was taken in the procession and was beaten by sandals. Hindu deities were obscenely portrayed. The effigy of Rama was burned publicly. Posters revealing the lust of and the birth of the Hindu deities were found everywhere. Many other photos depicted naked idols and erotic scenes from mythology.” The article mentions other sickeningly obscene depictions that cannot be printed here; an indication of the extreme profanity that this movement indulges in.

EVR once remarked, “The worst untruth that is in circulation is the claim that there is a religion called Hinduism.” More importantly, it would be naive to assume that the DMK’s drive for supposed social justice is a larger attempt to create an egalitarian society. It is not. In fact, it is a ruse to serve the majoritarian interests of the non-Brahmin upper castes of Tamil Nadu.

Despite the DMK being in power off and on for over 60 years, Tamil Nadu is not a haven for Dalits as the DMK would like us to believe. Discrimination against Dalits is rampant. Dalits continue to be marginalised, hate crimes against them are tacitly condoned in favour of the non-Brahmin upper castes and every day brings new reports of atrocities and insults heaped on Dalits.

As of 2018, there was only one Dalit secretary in DMK’s  65 district units. Token Dalits in the DMK cabinets are shunted to unimportant departments like Adi-Dravidar Welfare or Animal Husbandry resulting in public resignations. A senior Dalit leader, Sathyavani Muthu, resigned from the ministry in 1974 accusing Karunanidhi of being prejudiced against Dalits.

Large-scale violence against Dalits occurs frequently in Tamil Nadu and is routinely condoned in favour of the DMK’s vote bank of upper castes. In the 1987 Vanniyar agitation for separate reservations, Dalits were targeted and as many as 5000 Dalit huts were burnt. The DMK government did nothing. Other instances of serious violence against Dalits include the Thamirabarani massacre of July 23, 1999, which resulted in the death of 17 Dalit labourers and the Kilvenmani incident in which 44 Dalits were murdered by a gang of landlords, both under DMK rule.

Recently, on September 12, DMK leader Kanimozhi had to do some damage control after parents in a school refused to allow their children to partake of food cooked by a Scheduled Caste.

The DMK’s platform of social justice and rationality is an eyewash. What the DMK has done is replace one caste hegemony with another and unleash in the process vicious hatred and bigotry as exemplified by Udhayanidhi Stalin’s rant.

A scholarly duo examining the DMK’s political record aptly concluded: “…..appeasing castes with a majoritarian approach has become the dominant political practice …The DMK, as we have seen, is Janus-faced in its commitments towards social justice…”

The writer is a US-based author. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.