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Ssc SOCIAL STUDY CIRCLE di (ESTD
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July 9, 2003
The ERA of
Periyar EVR
Tamil Nadu, the erstwhile Madras
Presidency in South India, is a conservative State of India. It was reeling, for ages, under the
onslaught of the brahmins. That, in
spite of the direct Administration of the Presidency by the British Indian Govt. And there was also, the better liberal
Education, thanks to the British and French Missionaries, whose influence still
dominate the Education Scene of the State.
The State also had seen before that, the ionising effects of Islam under
the rule of the Arcot Nawabs etc. In
spite of these, the brahmins had a complete sway, over the thinking and living
styles of the People in the State.
Neither the British Administration, nor the British and French
Missionaries could really make any significant impact. That is the time, when EVR Periyar, emerged
on the scene, as a stormy patrol, to the chagrin of the brahmins.
He came at a time, when the larger
Madras Presidency was being influenced by varying degrees by the Revolutions in
France, America and Russia. The Liberal
Socialistic and Communist Ideologies of thinkers from England and Europe were
already sweeping the State. The success
of the Communism in Russia, was influencing many thinkers in the Madras
Presidency. The work of the Protestant
Missionaries from Germany in the Coastal Areas of Coramandal had also its share
of influence. Stalwarts like
Singaravelar had already prepared the ground and sown the seeds of Development
of the non-dominant castes and non-brahmin castes in the then Madras
Presidency.
had already made their
contributions. Everyone was talking of
Socialistic Ways of Life, against the evils of private personal selfish motives
and greed, to own exclusive private properties and profit making.
Periyar, coming from a small-town
land-owning trading family, was very active and socially sensitive, though he
was not much educated. He could feel
the pulse of the people, feel their problems, miseries, and also sense their
anguish, needs and aspirations. He
realised the hard basic facts that, the people were suffering unnecessarily and
unreasonably. He could also understand
that they were reaching their limits of tolerance, were willing for direct
action, and that they were prepared to do anything to change their lots by
themselves.
The People were willing to come
out to the streets, protest, fight and even go to jail. Getting beaten by the Police or others, or
loosing their limbs, and even death, they were prepared for. Those were in fact, a big action and
entertainment in their lives, in contrast to the monotony of slogging under the
tyranny of the landlords, and remaining hungry with out food, or going half fed
and half-dressed. Life for the people
was so monotonous, miserable and oppressive; that many felt that Death itself
was a big Liberator. So, they were
ready for action and protest. The
pent-up feelings and anger of the people, was a big time bomb waiting to
explode. All that needed was, someone
who could lead them in the right direction, to release the massive force of the
bottled up energy of the people and their anger, born out of misery as also the
sufferings induced anger, for a constructive and development oriented
change. But, the people at the same
time, were suffering in total silence, not knowing what was oppressing and
holding them back. They were kept
totally dormant, hibernating under the oppressive weight of caste based
illiteracy, backwardness, fear and exploitations by the small and big
brahmins. That, right from the Villages
to the Towns and Cities, from the Schools and local Govt Offices to the Colleges
Universities, Secretariats and Political Leaders in the Govts.
Periyar was bold enough, and spoke
out openly and frankly, without mincing words, or without withholding
anything. He was not hesitant to tell
the People that, they were suffering, their lives were miserable, only because
of the unfair and unreasonable oppressions to which they were being subjected
to. That, their oppressors were really
the brahmins. That, they were suffering
directly, because of the brahmins and their evil doings. And that, the brahmins are living
comfortably at their cost, misery and sufferings. Therefore, if they protest, they had nothing to loose, but their
poverty misery illiteracy and brahmin domination. So, for the first time, there emerged an individual, who could
lead the people against their sufferings misery poverty backwardness and
illiteracy. And that protest, was
directly against the brahmins, who were the root-cause of all evil and
everything bad, in the society and in their lives.
Periyar, being a pragmatist, with
his fingers on the pulse of the People, could feel the interest of the People
participating in the protests. So, he
could feel the rise and fall of the Peoples’ interests in participation, and
the rise and fall of the impact of his protests. So, to keep the Peoples Movement going forward and further on, he
launched a series of many small movements, with the one single aim of
upsetting, the established social order under brahmin domination, and the
unwavering sole target of pulling down the brahmins from their undeserving
dominance. So, he withdrew one protest
after the other, as the interests of the People ebbed and waned, and launched a
totally another new one in their places, to attract and swell the peoples’
interests and increase their participation.
It is a credit, due only to EVR
Periyar that, the brahmins who had such an monopoly and sway over the People,
including the timing of their actions, and even the direction of their walking,
left the Villages Towns small and big Cities, and even the Madras City in large
numbers. They went on to migrate to
Bombay, Calcutta and Delhi. They were
even willing to emigrate and go abroad, leaving their lands, homes and even
Govt Jobs and the Congress Party. It was
the same brahmins, who looked down on all who worked with their hands, and denigrated
those who practised medicine, humiliated all those who participated in fine and
performing arts – like singing dancing and acting in drama and cinema - or went
abroad for work and living. And the
same brahmins, started enrolling themselves in engineering schools and
colleges, practice medicine including gynaecology, learnt music dancing and
acting, and readily went abroad. That
for jobs, position, money, name, and again for social economic and political dominance,
and exercise or retain for a little time more some control over the leavers of
the wheels of the Govts.
The brahmins, had lost their
significant and totally important positions in society, though they manage to
still dominate the corridors of Govt.
And the brahmins stand exposed, the way they kept the Native Rulers’
Minds. The ways and manners in which
they enslaved and exploited the Native Rulers and their families, particularly
their women, without any restraint or qualm or discretion, had come out
stinkingly into the public. Significant
sections of the Society, who were treated worse than dogs and other animals,
prohibited even to walk through the streets of the Villages Towns and Cities,
today sit over the heads of these very same brahmins in Govt Offices. Those very same persons also, teach the sons
and daughters of the brahmins, Engineering and Medicine. They also at times preside over the destiny
of the brahmins, sitting in Judgement over their deeds and claims even in the
Courts.
The credit for all these in Tamil
Nadu go to EVR Periyar, in conjunction with the Muslims, British French and
German Missionaries, British Administration, Mahatma Phule and finally to Baba
Saheb Dr Ambedkar and Baba Saheb’s Reservation for SCs&STs and also the
Backward Classes. But, a pride of place, though not fully recognised, goes to EVR
Periyar.
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