It’s common knowledge that the Dravidian movement is based on hate and anti-Brahmin rhetoric. This racial hatred towards Brahmins was on display once again on Thursday, November 9 when Dr Aravind Raja, a Dravidianist and a die-hard supporter of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party in Tamil Nadu, took to X to target singer Sivasri Skandaprasad, the daughter of well-known Mridangam artist Skandaprasad.
Dr Aravind Raja, who describes himself as a CEO and brain specialist, shared pictures of Sivasri in Western clothing along with one of her old videos where she is heard advocating Indian traditional clothing and attacked her by captioning his post, “That Paapaara (casteist slur for Brahmins)… Sorry Sorry.. Bharathiya Traditional Maami (a sexist and derogatory reference to Tamil Brahmin women)“. Along with that, he shared a one-year-old clip of a speech of the Carnatic singer in which she emphasized the importance of wearing Indian clothes over Western clothes.
பாரத கலாச்சார ஆடையை பற்றி பாடம் எடுத்த🧵மாமி, முதலில் அவர் அந்த ஆடை முறையை கடைபிடித்திருக்கவேண்டும்.
— Dr.Aravind Raja (@AravindRajaOff) November 9, 2023
மாமி மட்டும் சவுரியத்துக்கு பேண்ட் டிசர்ட் போட்டு வெளிய சுத்தீட்டு.. மத்தவங்கள அதை கடைபிடிக்க சொல்லுறதுக்கு என்ன தகுதி இருக்கு?
இதை வெளியே அம்பலப்படுத்தியதுக்கு, நான் ஆபியூஸ்… pic.twitter.com/K0wuY7unij
Notably, the video clip that Raja shared was of Sivasri Skandaprasad’s old speech clip in which the Carnatic singer emphasized the importance of wearing Indian clothes over Western clothes and advocated Bharatiyas to wear traditional clothing because it will be a symbol of decoloniality, a symbol of freedom from the colonial mindset.
This clip was first shared by a Dravidianist ‘social media influencer’ named Kovai Harish on November 7. He had also mocked the singer-dancer for advocating traditional Indian clothes while she herself likes to wear Western clothes.
எல்லாரும் படிச்சு நல்ல வேலைகளுக்கு போறதும், பேண்ட் சர்ட், கோர்ட் சூட் போட்றதும் பாப்பாத்திக்கு பொறுக்கல போல.. கோவணத்தையும், இடுப்புல துண்டையும் கட்டிட்டு இருந்திருந்தா குலு குலுனு இருந்திருக்கும்..
— Kovai Harish (@KovaiHarish) November 7, 2023
வாய், வயிறு எரிஞ்சு சாவு 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/MYr5fRslVm
Sivasri Skandaprasad is a Tamil Nadu-based artist who is a Carnatic musician, Bharatanatyam artiste, painter, and Bhagavatha. She is the granddaughter of Kalaimamani late Seerkazhi R. Jayaraman, who was an established musician. Sivasri, who identifies herself as a proud Hindu, had last year ripped into an anti-Hindu Dravidianist who had said that singing bhajans at Tamil festivals is akin to indirectly proselytising people into Brahminism.
Calling herself a devout Hindu, the singer wrote, “How did people just assume everybody who sings god’s name in #Margazhi are Brahmins? We all are Hindus. And the group consists of all Hindus, we don’t care about their caste. No Caste business happening here, please. Don’t Caste-ise Music.”
How did people just assume everybody who sings god’s name in #Margazhi are Brahmins? We all are Hindus. And the group consists of all Hindus, we don’t care about their caste. No Caste business happening here, please. Don’t Caste-ise Music.
— Sivasri Skandaprasad 🇮🇳 (@ArtSivasri) January 10, 2022
Meanwhile, following Raja’s post where he was caught spewing venom against the Hindu dancer and singer, many internet users including Tamil actor Kasturi voiced their support for Sivasri. Kasturi, however, received similar casteist abuses and was named “prostitute” by Dr Aravind Raja.
இதுல என்ன abuse கண்டு புடிச்சிட்டேனு இந்த தேசிடியா மாமி.. சாரி.. சாரி.. தேசபக்தி பாரம்பரிய மாமி கதறிட்டு இருக்கு..🔥 https://t.co/HryYQqB1uC pic.twitter.com/zyKLDUvHhr
— Dr.Aravind Raja (@AravindRajaOff) November 8, 2023
Dravidianists and several DMK leaders and supporters have time and again targeted Tamil Brahmin women and spewed casteist and sexist venom against them. They have, in fact, openly called for the genocide of Tamil Brahmins.
In June last year, 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.
Dravidian icon Periyar and his hatred towards Hindus and Hinduism
In 1953, the Dravidian icon Periyar organized agitations for the desecration of Ganesha idols. He 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.
