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I recently interviewed M Venkatesan, a 'Dalit', whose family has
been living in a slum area called Hanumanthapuram in Triplicane
during the last 25 years. I am specifically mentioning the fact
that he belongs to the Dalit community only to take the wind
from the sails of self-styled, castiest and communalist
Dravidian leaders who often pride themselves as saviours,
champions, protectors and upholders of the backward and
suppressed communities in Tamilnadu under the political umbrella
of 'self-respect' and 'social justice'.
Venkatesan is a bright, hardworking and precocious young man
who has taken his MA in Philosophy from Vivekananda College,
Chennai. He told me that when he joined the Vivekananda College,
he had to face a barrage of difficult and unanswerable questions
from his fellow students on the so-called 'revolutionary and
unprecedented' contribution of 'Periyar E V Ramasamy Naicker' to
the emancipation and liberation of the oppressed and suppressed
communities in Tamilnadu.
Finding himself in a state of siege, Venkatesan, being a
Dalit himself, took the initiative of researching into almost
all the publications brought out by 'Periyar Suyamariyadai
Prachara Nilayam' and also into the writings of Periyar's
contemporaries like
Annadurai,
M P Sivagnanam, comrade Jeevanandam, KAP Viswanathan, etc.
Not being totally satisfied he went through all the magazines
and journals like 'Viduthalai', 'Kudiyarasu', 'Dravida Naadu',
'Dravidan' etc, relating to the period during which Periyar
lived in order to ascertain the truth and also to get hold of
solid and irrefutable facts.
As a great believer in Hinduism and Hindu philosophy, his
sensitive soul was tortured by the baseless attacks of Periyar
on Hindu Gods and Goddesses. I would like to quote his own words
in this context: 'I could not help viewing Periyar's uncivilised
and barbarous attacks upon my chosen Gods and Goddesses and my
own Hindu faith as wanton attacks on my dear and sacred mother
who begot me. My search into the works of Periyar and my
extensive reading of all his articles gave a rude cultural shock
to me. I was greatly dismayed by the hellish hatred of Periyar
towards my faith and towards my chosen Gods and Goddesses'.
Hatred of Brahmins and hatred of Hindu Gods, these according to
Venkatesan were the only pith and pin of Periyar's public life.
According to Venkatesan, Periyar was a man of virulent
contradictions, inexplicable incongruities and inchoate
insensitivities. As he very much wanted these facts to be made
known to the public he has written a book in Tamil entitled 'E V
Ramasamy Naickarin Marupakkam' (The other side of E V Ramasamy
Naickar).
During the course of my interview, he told me with an anguished
feeling that if only people cared to read my book on 'E V
Ramasamy Naickar', then they will clearly understand how some
sections of people in Tamilnadu, behaving like heads of cattle,
were brainwashed into the hero-worship of E V Ramasamy Naickar,
completely ignoring the inherent and fundamental contradictions
in his self-proclaimed ideologies founded only on communal
hatred of Brahmins and atheistic hatred of Hindu Gods.
Venkatesan's view is that Periyar wrongly thought that when he
attacked Brahmins, he was attacking Hinduism and when he
attacked Hinduism, he was attacking Brahmins. At the same time,
the comedy is that Periyar had very warm feelings towards the
Gods of Islam and Christianity. 'I am really ashamed of those
people who have veneration for E V Ramasamy Naickar and his
perverse philosophy of selective hatred of men and things. I am
no less rational or serious than him when I say this', observed
Venkatesan.
Venkatesan emphatically declared that Periyar did nothing for
the emancipation of the oppressed and suppressed Dalits. On the
contrary he was inimical towards all the Dalits whom he treated
with utmost contempt. His contempt for the Dalits (90 per cent)
was only exceeded by his hatred for the Brahmins (100 per cent).
To quote from Venkatesan's book: Periyar said:
'The attempt to promote 'temple entry' and 'abolition of
untouchability' by the Congress leaders should not result in
the tragedy of people belonging to the backward classes
getting reduced to the level of scheduled castes. Instead of
attempting to raise the status of Scheduled Castes
(Parayans), an attempt should not be made to reduce the
status of backward Class (Sudrans) by relegating them to the
levels of Scheduled Castes. On no account should the
existing status of Sudrans be reduced to the level of
Parayans'.
Venkatesan says in his book that Periyar's contempt if not
hatred for the Dalits was shown in another context by his flash
observation:
'One of the main reasons why there is an upward trend in
the prices of clothes and textiles is that women belonging
to the Scheduled Castes (Parachies) have started wearing
blouses these days. The reason for growing unemployment in
society is on account of increasing number of people
belonging to Scheduled Castes (Parayans) taking to school
education and higher education'.
Venkatesan concludes that Periyar was a sworn enemy of
Dalits, their education, emancipation, growth and development.
'As a dalit I have come to this definite conclusion based upon
Periyar's golden thoughts, observations and averments on my
dalit community', says Venkatesan.
Even a cursory reading of Venkatesan's book will show how
Periyar, who was always concerned with the self-respect of the
Dravidian race, and more particularly the Tamil race, upheld the
glory, the greatness and the grandeur of the Tamil language for
over 70 years through his historic and time-defying observations
and writings which will ring across centuries. Here are a few
pearls from 'Periyarana' cited by Venkatesan in his book:
'For more than 40 years, I have been describing Tamil as a
barbarous language (Kattumirandi Mozhi) used only by barbarians.
When Brahmins and the Brahmin-dominated government wanted to
make Hindi a State language, I started, to a very limited
extent, advocating the promotion of Tamil language only to
oppose the imposition of Hindi language. The only language that
ought to replace Tamil is English. What is not there in English
which can be found in Tamil Language?'
Periyar's patriotism and love for our nation are brought out in
his own statement: 'Though I might have blocked the exit of the
Englishmen from India, though I might have betrayed in a
treasonable manner the cause of India's freedom, I have not been
a party to the installation of sinners from the Brahmin
community with its fall out effects of domination of people from
Northern India backed by the lust for money power, paraphernalia
of public offices and self-interest'.
I have quoted only very very sparingly from the book authoured
by Venkatesan. In order to fully understand the truth-defying
greatness of 'Periyar' and Periyarism in proper perspective, one
has to read this book from end to end with great care and
caution, inspired by the shadow ideals of 'self-respect' and
'rationalism'.
I view Venkatesan as a symbol of a new awakening among the youth
in Tamilnadu. I am quite impressed by his zest for learning,
thoroughness in his approach to academic research and above all
his fearless gentlemanliness deriving its unassailable strength
from his passion for truth and justice. Venkatesan lamented:
'The trouble with Tamilnadu is that prejudice often scores a
victory over principle. Prejudice, which sees what it pleases,
cannot see what is plain. I only wanted to pursue plain truth
and nothing else'.
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