Achievements of Dravidian Movements

There are quite a few numb, eccentric, jerk, bum, goof-off and jokester persons like Cho and Subramaniyam Swamy are always blabbering about the failures of Dravidian movements for any damn thing and blame the Dravidian parties even if the north east monsoon fails in Tamilnadu.

Some section of media and intelligentsia never flunked to utilize any opportunity to write, talk and float the idea of bringing in the alternatives to Dravidian parties in Tamilnadu politics and accuse the Dravidian parties as if they dug and buried the fortunes of Tamilnadu. This mania intrudes into the minds of section of educated backward caste people joining in the very same queue who are all got the social acceptance only because of Dravidian movements.

Apparently there exists a flattened feeling in the society that what the Dravidian movements achieved except the anti God and even after the vigorous anti God propaganda have they rationalized the whole state?

There should be qualitative analysis instead of the quantitative analysis when evaluating the anti-God movement which brought the renaissance in the state. The religious faith or spirituality is always spread in the society with the attached fear components like Karma, previous birth, fate etc which eventually dampened the human brain to think and question.

This movement opened the doors of questioning and reasoning and enabled the people to use their rationale faculty even for their religious fervors. Though the movement has not completely eliminated the religious faith from the people, but it has totally wiped off the fear factors associated with it. Religious institutions of any kind cannot exploit or fool the people as easily as they did before the movement started here. This is knowledge revolution and the battle was fought in human minds with the intellectual armory.

The knowledge of Sanskrit was essential to enter into any professional college in Madras province which deeply hampers the students from oppressed section to become Doctors and Engineers. The Justice Party after regaining the power felt this criterion was ridiculous and removed this eligibility which carved the path for the downtrodden students to enter into professional colleges.

This academic year medical college admissions witnessed the BC, MBC and SC students got the larger chunk of open competition seats. This noteworthy achievement has been made possible because of the radical change done 60-70 years back. Tamilnadu is the only state which has the larger pool of Doctors, Engineers and Lawyers from oppressed section then the other states in India and in some states still the professional courses are eternal to the same section.

Periyar's contribution to the success of the Vaikom Satyagraha is outstanding. It was the first notable social struggle on a large scale in India. Justice party implemented Government Orders giving reservation in education and job opportunities, passed the Hindu Religious Endowment and Charitable Trusts Act to regulate the management of the secular activities of religious places, abolished by law the system of Devadasi (divine prostitute), threw open all public places - schools, roads, tanks etc. - to the depressed classes, refused to issue or renew licenses to the bus companies that refused to carry `untouchables'.

Dravidian parties scrupulously adopt the necessary measures, including constitutional amendments, to promote and safeguard the policy of reservation meant for the advancement and adequate representation of the socially and educationally backward classes. They encourage the education of women, inter-caste marriages and widow marriages, and have lawfully provided for an equal share for women in the property of the parents. The governments formed by the Dravidian parties did not lag behind others in bringing about economic development and implementing welfare and socialist measures.

As Tamil soil is cultivated by great Dravidian leaders for a long time and the essence of the movement is deeply penetrated in to the people minds, the state always remains as a decorated example of secularism and escorts the true meaning of secular credentials. Most of the states in the country were in turmoil after heinous demolition of Babri masjid, but Tamilnadu remained calm because of the secular seeds sowed in by its leaders which never allowed any communal violence to go out of proportion.

All possible painstaking efforts taken by the communal parties like BJP to have a stronghold here went vain and unproductive because of the strong roots of this movement. Even during the recent Sankaracharya arrest, the state hadn’t exhibited any religious fanaticism in fact it celebrated it by firing crackers and reinstated that it is the birth place of Thandhai Periyar and Aringer Anna.

Dravidian movement is the pioneer in launching the struggle against social injustice and stood as a role model for the whole nation to fight for social justice. Ms.Mayawati celebrated Periyar mela in a grand way in Uttar Pradesh is the evidence that this movement inspired the rise of backward community leaders in northern India.

Wherever men claim equality and whenever all human beings seek equal rights, the spirit of the Dravidian movement will live there. In their struggle to gain human rights and dignity, and to safeguard cultural identity and linguistic equality, to eliminate caste discrimination and uphold social justice, the leaders, cadres and members of the Dravidian movement have undergone sufferings, incurred losses and made sacrifices that are monumental and memorable.

P.S: Dravidian Movement includes the Justice party, Self Respect Movement, Dravidar Kazhakam, Political parties branched out from Dravidar Kazhakam and the Congress rule under Mr.K.Kamaraj