On Friday (June 3), the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party in Tamil Nadu courted controversy after its official spokesperson R. Rajiv Gandhi claimed that Tamil Brahmins should have been killed as per the directions of Dravidian icon Periyar.
In a contentious tweet, the DMK leader remarked, “If we Shudras had done what Periyar told us back then, we wouldn’t have had to struggle with Brahmins for justice, rights, education and equality. 3% of you (Brahmins) are still dominating some areas.”
His tweet, endorsing the genocide of Tamil Brahmins, comes after political commentator Sumanth Raman had shared a snippet of the Periyar’s 1973 speech in Karikudi in Tamil Nadu.
The Background of the controversy
In the said speech, the anti-Hindu activist was heard calling for the annihilation of Tamil Brahmins. Periyar had lamented how a Brahmin ‘Lord Murugan’ killed demon king ‘Soora Padman’, who supposedly said that there was no God.
“Tamil Brahmins killed him. So, now we can kill those buggers. That won’t be wrong. Maybe legally it will be wrong. That legal offence and all is humbug. We can’t be bothered that it is legally wrong. We have to come to this conclusion,” he had remarked.
Periyar had emphasised, “Wherever we see a temple, we must go inside and break all the idols inside. Wherever we find a Paapaan (slur for Tamil Brahmins), we must kill and destroy him. Brahmins have done this to us. We must avenge it.”
The Dravidian icon had suggested that a few non-Brahmins might have to die for the cause. “If one non-Brahmin Tamil dies while trying to kill one Tamil Brahmin, only 3 of us will die out of every hundred. 94% of us will still remain but Tamil Brahmins will be eliminated. We will definitely go to this level. We can take one step at a time,” Periyar had suggested.
Those from the rest of India may want to listen to this speech. Especially wokes who have no idea of the hatred spread and the calls for genocide made then. That a genocide did not happen is thanks in large measure to Indira Gandhi,MGR &Jayalalithaa. @netshrink https://t.co/aAUspzrFkG
— Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) June 3, 2022
Political commentar Sumanth Raman pointed out how the rest of India and especially the wokes do not have any idea about the hate peddled by Periyar in his lifetime.
“Those from the rest of India may want to listen to this speech. Especially wokes who have no idea of the hatred spread and the calls for genocide made then. That a genocide did not happen is thanks in large measure to Indira Gandhi, MGR & Jayalalithaa,” he tweeted.
Raman then went on to engage in bothsidesism and drew a false balance between Periyar’s 1973 speech and Hindutva.
Tell me one reason why this speech is better than those made by some fringe Hindutva Groups today. That is why I have for long maintained that both so called Dravidianism and Hindutva are two sides of the same coin. Hope people appreciate this better now. https://t.co/Ss5ohHTyBU
— Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) June 3, 2022
“Tell me one reason why this speech is better than those made by some fringe Hindutva Groups today. That is why I have for long maintained that both so-called Dravidianism and Hindutva are two sides of the same coin. Hope people appreciate this better now,” Raman stated.
Periyar and his hatred towards Hindus and Hinduism
In 1953, Periyar organized agitations for the desecration of Ganesha idols. He had elaborated extensively on the motivations behind the breaking of the idols. Thousands of idols were broken on the chosen day of the agitation, which also happened to be Gautama Buddha’s birthday. A case was filed against him which was later dismissed by the Courts.
In August 1956, he was poised to lead his followers to the Marina in burning pictures of Shri Rama. In his mind, the Ramayana was a tale of war between Aryans and Dravidians where the less worthy Aryans prevailed over the righteous Dravidians. Quite obviously, Periyar’s interpretation of events had no real basis in reality.
On the day of the protest, Periyar was arrested by the Police but his followers proceeded with the madness at the Marina. Most people went home after the Police brandished their lathis.
Approximately 890 people were arrested either before or during the event. Periyar was released after two and a half hours but he declined to continue the protest following his release.
