Tamil Nadu is now witness to a sudden resurgence of the demand for Dravida Nadu (Dravidian nation), that too from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president M.K.Stalin.
Tamil Nadu is now witness to a sudden resurgence of the demand for Dravida Nadu (Dravidian nation), that too from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president M.K.Stalin. Though this secessionist demand was buried 60 years ago by its original proponent Dravidar Kazhagam leader E.V.Ramasamy (called Periyar), this sentiment lies embedded in the name of every major regional party in Tamil Nadu including All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam ( DMDK) and All India Latchiya Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. It is only recently that two leaders - “ulaga nayagan" Kamal Haasan and sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran chose to christen their parties without “Dravidam” .And Dinakaaran was lambasted for this by his former supporter and leading speaker Nanjil Sampath who quit his ranks immediately after the launching of the party.
However, the opinion of Stalin has no takers in the State as of now as everyone knows that the Dravidian concept of uniting all those speaking Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada is utopian. Thanks to DMK’s experience in cobbling together various parties in 1989 to form the National Front, is it aiming at another “Maha ghatbandhan” ( grand alliance) in which Telugu Desam Party Telengana Rashtra Samithi, CPI-M led LDF and the Congress could become constituents.? Too early to think of any such thing.But nobody knows what is in the mind of Stalin.
“Vadakku vaazhgirathu, therkku theygirathu (north is flourishing and south is waning)" is the refrain of C.N.Annadurai, the founder of DMK and the first opposition Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.expressing his antipathy towards northerners . The very same anger against the “perceived hegemony” of the north has been the cause of anti-Hindi agitations in 1965 in Tamil Nadu.
These words turned out to be the basis for a separate land for Dravidians that encompasses the former Madras Presidency including former Madras State, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh (including the current Telengana) and of course, Pondicherry.
Periyar, the father of the Dravidian movement, envisaged a separate multi-linguistic nation, comprising Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada-speaking areas.
The concept of Dravida Nadu had its root in the anti-Brahminism movement in Tamil Nadu, whose aim was to end the alleged Brahmin dominance in the Tamil society and government. However, over the time, it came to include a separatist movement, demanding a sovereign state for the Tamil people. The major political party backing this movement was the Justice Party, which came to power in the Madras Presidency in 1921. Periyar also stated that "Self Respect should come before self-rule".
The movement for Dravida Nadu was at its height from the 1940s to 1960s, but due to fears of Tamil hegemony, it failed to find any support outside Tamil Nadu. In July 1947, the separatist Tamil leaders celebrated the "Dravida Nadu Secession Day". [On 13 July 1947, they passed a resolution demanding an independent Dravida Nadu. The States Reorganisation Act 1956, which created linguistic States, weakened the demand further. In 1960, the DMK leaders decided to delete the demand of Dravida Nadu. In 1963, the Government of India declared secessionism as an illegal act. As a consequence, Annadurai abandoned the "claim" for Dravida Nadu - now geographically limited to modern Tamil Nadu - completely in 1963.
DMK's slogan of Dravida Nadu found no support in any state other than Tamil Nadu.
Despite knowing full well that the concept of “Dravida Nadu” is just utopian, Stalin is trying to stoke the embers of Tamil sentiments in a bid to capture power in Tamil Nadu which has rejected DMK twice consecutively since 2011.
Actually the demand for Dravida Nadu did not come from Stalin but there was a “confused” mention regarding it by actor and current president of the new party, Makkal Neethi Mayyam Kamal Haasan.
Despite listening to his speech at the Murasoli Platinum Jubilee function any number of times, I am unable to understand why he tried to bring in “Dravidam”. This function was organized by the DMK well ahead of the announcement of Kamal Haasan that he would be launching a separate party.Then I thought that he was planning to unify the people spread over the five major southern States. - Tamil Nadu,Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana and also the union Territory of Pondicherry.
Besides, there was the usual clamour from some parties that the BJP was trying to develop the northern States at the cost of the southern States..
Only when a reporter raised a question whether such a feeling would lead to the resurgence of the demand for Dravida Nadu, did Stalin respond.
Stalin argued that the neglect of the southern States by the BJP government at the Centre had actually fuelled the idea.To drive home this point, he quoted Annadurai -- “the reasons for creation of Dravida Nadu continue to hold good”.
Stalin , heir apparent of the DMK, has been in politics for more than 40 years. He knows full well that the conditions that were obtaining in 1940s or even 1960 are not present now.Too much water has flown under the bridge.
The major reason for the resurgence of this demand by the DMK at present is that there is hardly any issue of emotive nature that the opposition could latch on to.
For instance, Cauvery waters imbroglio that has been in the Apex Court for close to half a century continues to simmer because Karnataka is opposed to constitution of the Cauvery Management Board as prescribed by the court. Hence all the MPs from Tamil Nadu have been boycotting Parliament for the past 12 days. This. Is the most serious issue of Tamil Nadu and all the parties in the State are united on this score. Ironically, Karnataka that forms part of the Dravida Nadu, have serious differences with Tamil Nadu on sharing of Cauvery waters .
Similarly, Kerala, which is also a part of the Dravida Nadu that is envisaged, has a perennial difference of opinion with regard to the Mulla Periyar Dam and both the States have been fighting in the court for decades.
Even Andhra Pradesh has its own differences with Tamil Nadu, especially regarding Palar water.
Similarly, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have some major discord on sharing of inter-state waters.
Whether it’s the Cauvery, the Krishna or, more recently, the Mahadayi, Karnataka has either gone through tribunals and courts for decades over sharing the waters of the rivers running through its territory or has been faulted for building dams, planning projects and impeding water flow to other states.
While water shortages and the need for drinking water and widening the area under irrigation are real concerns for Karnataka, the issues have been largely politicised
Hence, in the so-called Dravidia Nadu, there is hardly any unity, especially with regard to sharing of waters.
Even with regard to Hindi, which is anathema to Tamil Nadu, all other Southern States have a diametrically opposite view. While Tamil Nadu schools do not teach Hindi at all, in other three States it is one of the major languages well supported by the Governments.
After capturing power in 1967, both the Dravidian parties, DMK and the AIADMK, have been ruling Tamil Nadu virtually alternately.
After losing power in 2011, DMK has been hoping that it would be able to wrest it back from AIADMK in 2016. But AIADMK supremo J.Jayalalitha proved that she was far more astute and retained power thus keeping the DMK out of Government for 5 more years. Besides, DMK patriarch, five - time chief Minister, nonagenarian M.Karunanidhi remains incapacitated.
Now it is the task of Stalin to resuscitate DMK and his elder sibling M.K.Alagiri is waiting to prove that Stalin is not upto the task.
Interestingly, DMK’s efforts to capitalize on the “jallikkaattu” and the agitation against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) have failed miserably as the ruling AIADMK was also demanding that jallikkattu should be allowed to continue in Tamil Nadu and NEET should be scrapped.
Even with regard to the Cauvery waters impasse the ruling party is in agreement with the DMK.
Stalin knows well that it was because of anti-Hindi agitations in 1960s that DMK could capture power.
Hence, he is hunting for an issue that could boost his image.
DMK is struggling to keep its ship afloat because the ruling party is not giving it an inch despite the sudden demise of its supreme leader Jayalalithaa. Even after the split Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami and former Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam managed to patch up their differences.
The AIADMK may not be the biggest stumbling block for DMK in the 2021 Assembly elections because it has once again been weakened with the launching of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam by. Dinakaran on March 15. But the two mega stars in Tamil Nadu Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan are posing a real threat to the well-established parties in the State as they are also in the fray..
The AIADMK is trying to delay the civic elections in the State which should have been held in October 2016.
All that DMK can hope for at present is election to Lok Sabha which is a year away.However, regional parties do not have much stake in Lok Sabha polls.
Political analysts in Tamil Nadu feel that it has become an ordeal for the DMK to identify an issue to capitalize on and garner the support of the youth.
Hence the moth-eaten demand for Dravida Nadu.