Periyar's
Movement
28 June, 2003
Philosophy of
Periyar E.V.Ramasamy ( 17.9.1879 - 24.12.1973) was all men and women
should live with dignity and have equal opportunities to develop their
physical, mental and moral faculties.. To achive this, he wanted to
put an end to all kinds of unjust discriminations and to promote Social
Justice and rational outlook.
To put his principle into
practice, Periyar associated himself with the Madras Presidency Association
(MPA) in 1917. He was one of its vice-presidents.The Association advocated
communal representation and demanded reservation for the Non-Brahmins
and minority communities, as a 'sine qua non' of removing the injustices.
When Mahatma Gandhi (M.K.Gandhi
: 1869-1948) took the lead in the Indian National Congress, Periyar
joined the organisation in 1919. He resigned 29 public posts he held
at that time, including the municipal chairmanship of Erode town. He
gave up his very lucrative wholesale dealership in grocery and agricultural
products, and closed his newly begun spinning mill. Periyar wholeheartedly
undertook the constructive programme - spreading the use of Khadi, picketing
toddy shops, boycotting the shops selling foreign cloth and eradication
of untouchability. He courted imprisonment for picketing toddy shops
in Erode in 1921. When his wife as well as his sister joined the agitation,
it gained momentum, and the administration was forced to come to a compromise.
In 1922, Periyar moved a
resolution in the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee when it met at Tiruppur.
The resolution required people of all castes to be allowed to enter
and worship in all the temples, as a measure to end birth-based discrimination.
Citing the authority of Vedas and other Hindu scriptures, the Brahmin
members of the Committee opposed the resolution and stalled its passage.
This reactionary stand of the members of upper Varna provoked Periyar
to declare that he would burn Manu dharma Sastra, Ramayana etc. to show
his disapproval to accept such scriptures to govern the social, religious
and cultural aspects of the people.
Periyar's determination to
bring about socio-cultural revolution impelled him to support even his
opponents when they implemented his progressive scheme. Though a Congress
leader, he supported in 1923, the Justice Party's measure to form Hindu
Religious Endowment Board with a view to put an end to the age-old monopoly
and exploitation of the upper castes in the managements of Hindu temples
and religious endowments.
Periyar's vigorous and spirited
role in the Vaikom Satyagraha (1924-25) contributed in no mean measure
for the triumph of that first historic social struggle in the history
of modern India. This paved the way for the "untouchables"
to use public roads without any inhibition and for other prospective
egalitarian social measures.
At Cheranmaadhevi near Tirunelveli
in Southern Tamil Nadu, they started a National training school as an
alternative to those run under the control of the British Government.
That school, known as Gurukulam, was funded by the Tamil Nadu Congress
Committee and by other non-Brahmin philanthropists. It was managed by
V.V.S.Iyer, a Brahmin. Under his management, they showed discrimination
between the Brahmin and Non-Brahmin students. Brahmin boys were treated
in a better way than the others with regard to food, shelter and the
cirriculum. Along with his companions Periyar stoutly opposed the discreminatory
practice and put an end to it.
It was Periyar's firm conviction
that universal enjoyment of human rights will become a reality only
when the Varna-Jaathi (caste) system was eradicated. Until the social
reconstruction took place, he wanted communal representation as ameasure
of affirmative action to uphold social justice. So he tried, every year
from 1919, to make the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee to accept the policy
of reservation to different social groups and communities. But his efforts
bore no fruit in this regard. Finally he left Congress in November,
1925 at the Kancheepuram Conference. He had to part company with Mahatma
Gandhil because the later was not prepared to put an end to the Brahmin
domination and to fight against caste system.
Self - respect Movement :
1925- 39: Periyar's philosophy is that different sections of a society
should have equal rights to enjoy the fruits of the resources and the
development of the country; they should all be represented, in proportion
to their numerical strength, in the governance and the administration
of the state. This principle had been enunicated earlier by those who
stood for social justice, particularly by the South Indian Liberal Federation,
popularly known as Justice Party. Periyar's unique contribution was
his insistence on rational outlook to bring about intellectual emancipation
and a healthy world-view. He also stressed the need to abolish the hierarchal,
graded, birth-based caste structure as a prelude to build a new egalitarian
social order. In other words, he wanted to lay a sound socio-cultural
base, before raising a strong structure of free polity and prosperous
economy.
It was in this context, the
Self-Respect Movement, founded in 1925, carried on a vigorous and ceaseless
propaganda against ridiculous and harmful superstitions, traditions,
customs and habits. He wanted to dispel the ignorance of the people
and make them enlightened. He exhorted them to take steps to change
the institutions and values that led to meaningless divisions and unjust
discrimination. He advised them to change according to the requirements
of the changing times and keep pace with the modern conditions.
Self-respecters performed
marriages without Brahmin priests (prohits) and without religious rites.
They insisted on equality between men and women in all walks of life.
They encouraged inter-caste and widow marriages. Periyar propagated
the need for birth-control even from late 1920s. He gathered support
for lawful abolition of Devadasi (temple prostitute) system and the
practice of child marriage. It was mainly due to his consistent and
energetic propaganda, the policy of reservations in job opportunities
in government administration was put into practice in the then Madras
Province (which included Tamilnadu) in 1928.
Since the British rulers
in India had no vested interest in perpetuating the inequitable Varna-Jaathi
social structure based on Vedic Sanathana Dharma, Periyar and his followers
found that they could influence or pressurise the alien government to
take measures to remove social inequality. So they adopted a moderate
policy in the struggle for political independence.
From the beginning of 1930s,
Periyar added the programme of fighting for economic equality to his
original programme of working for social equality and cultural revolution.
Along with the veteran communist leader Com. M.Singaravel, he organised
industrial and agricultural labourers to stand against the exploitation
of big capitalists and landlords. In mid -1930s, the central and provincial
governments took steps to ban the Communist Party and the organisations
purported to have similar programmes. They started to stop the activities
of the Self-Respect Movement. Periyar had to take a crucial decision.
He had known by experience that there were supporters for the work to
carry on the freedom struggle and to organise the labourers. But only
a few came forth to expose the religion-based traditional evils, and
struggle against the exploitation of the powerful Brahminical upper
castes. Under these circumstance, he toned down his socialist activities
in order to be free to carry on the task of the socio-cultural emancipation
of the disadvantaged and the downtrodden sections.
In 1934, there was an unsuccessful
move through C.Rajagopalachari, known as Rajaji, to bring Periyar back
into the fold of the Congress Party. Periyar prepared a programme of
action consisting of measures to promote Social Justice through reservations,
to implement socialisation of vital and large-scale commercial and industrial
activities, and to remove the hardships of the debt-ridden peasants.
He sent the programme to the ruling Justisce Party and the Congress
Party that was growing popular. The Congress Party did not accept it,
as the policy of reservation was not agreeable to it. As Justice Party
agreed to most of the measures including communal representation to
uphold Social Justice, Periyar continued to support it.
In 1937, Justice Party that
was in power in the then Madras Province from 1921, except for a brief
period, lost the elections to the Congress Party. The Congress Government
was headed by Rajagopalachari who introduced compulsory study of Hindi
language in the high schools. Those who opposed this effort to make
non-Hindi speaking people second class citizens organised a vigorous
agitation under the dynamic leadership of Periyar. More than 1200 persons
including women with children were imprisoned in 1938, of which two,
Thalamuthu and Natarasan, lost their lives due to the rigours in prison.
When the agitation gained momentum Periyar was sentenced to undergo
rigorous imprisonment for two years, though released in six months (Periyar
was in gaol five times in 1920s and four times in 1930s).
When he was in prison, a
women's conference in Madras (now Chennai) passed a resolution to refer
to E.V.Ramasamy always as Periyaar ( the great man.).
While undergoing imprisonment,
the Justice Party elected him as its President on 29th December, 1938.
Periyar who opposed compulsory
study of Hindi in the then Madras Province was sentenced to undergo
rigorous imprisonment for two years. But he was released after about
six months of confinement from 26th November, 1938 to 22nd May 1939.
After his release, he announced that he would continue his agitation
against the imposition of Hindi.
As the leader of Justice
Party: 1939-1944.
We have seen that Periyar
was elected while he was in prison, as the leader of the South Indian
Liberal Federation, popularly known as Justice Party, in its Provincial
Conference held in Madras (Chennai) on 29, 30 December, 1938. He was
basically a fighter for human rights for all from the beginning to the
end of his public life. Now he added a new dimension to his movement,
viz., demand for an independent Dravida Naadu. He was driven to make
this demand in 1938-39, because he found the Brahminical upper castes
whom he opposed for their social oppression, were in league with the
North Indian Bania community (comprador capitalists) in imposing Hindi
and in exploiting economically the people of South India.
Periyar's concept of Dravidians
was not based on the purity of blood related to a race, but on values
and ways of life. The Brahminical upper castes who followed the discriminatory
socio-cultural principles, practices and traditions of Varna-Jaathi
(caste system) originally enunicated in the Sanskrit scriptures like
Vedas, Ithihaasas, Puraanas, Dharma Sastras etc. are Aryans. Those who
subscribe to the egalitarian Tamil tradition and values of humanism
are Dravidians. It may be recalled here that while addressing the conference
of Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes in Kanpoor in Uttar Pradesh
in December 1944, he appealed to the Non-Brahmins of North- India to
give up the religious appellation of Hindu and call themselves as Dravidians.
The Second World War broke out in September 1939. As a protest against
the British rulers involving India in the war without consulting the
High Command of their party, the Congress ministries in Madras and seven
other Provinces resigned on 29th October of the same year. As Periyar
was the leader of the opposition Justice Party, he was asked by the
Governor and Governor General twice in 1940 and 1942 to form the ministry.
Though a Congress leader, his friend C.Rajagopalachari personally requested
Periyar to accept the offer, assuring his outside support to the Justice
Party ministry. He explained that he wanted to put an end to the rule
of the Governor and his advisers. But Periyar refused to head theProvincial
Government on both the occasions. His refusal was on two grounds: First,
he felt it improper to form the ministry without a popular mandate.
Secondly, he firmly believed that his main task of annihilating caste
system and spreading rational humanist principles would receive a set
back, if he assumed power. Periyar left for Mumbai (Bombay) on 5th January
1940. Dr. B.R.Ambedkar gave dinner- parties twice in his honour. They
met the Muslim League leader M.A.Jinnah at his residence in Mumbai on
8th January 1940. Periyar explained then his decision to work for an
independent State known as Dravida Naadu. On 21st January 1940, the
Madras provincial Government ruled by the Governor and his advisers
abolished the compulsory study of Hindi in schools. M.A.Jinnah sent
a telegram to Periyar congratulating him on the success of his endeavour
to ward off the imposition of Hindi. When the Justice Party was defeated
in the 1937 general elections after being in power for a very long spell
from 1921, most of its leaders were disheartened and became inactive.
It was at this moment of crisis, Periyar accepted the leadership of
the party because he always felt the need for the existence of a vigorous
political party essentialy oriented to work for the upliftment of the
socially deprived sections of the people. At this critical movement,
two of the old guards staunchly stood by him. They were Sir R.K.Shanmugam
and Sir A.T. Panneerselvam. At the time, the former was the Dewan of
the Princely State of Kochi (now a part of Kerala) and then became Independent
India's first finance minister in 1947. The latter was a member of the
Governor's council and then a minister in Madras province in 1930s.
On 1st March 1940, he lost his life in a plane crash while flying over
Oman sea on his way to London where he was to assume office as an adviser
to the Secretary of State for India in the British Government. Periyar
lamented that the sudden and tragic demise of Panneerselvam was an irreparable
loss to the people of Tamil Nadu. The 15th State Conference of the Justice
Party was held in Tiruvarur in August 1940. It was on this occasion,
Chinnakancheepuram Natarajan Annadurai (C.N.A.) respectfully mentioned
later as Arignar Anna, became the Joint Secretary of the Party. He fascinated
the youth by his unique style of writing and oratory. He played a great
role in popularising the principles, policies and programmes of Periyar
through his essays, short stories, novels and plays. In February 1941,
the founder-leader of Radical Democratic Party, M.N.Roy, came to Chennai
and stayed as Periyar's guest. He sought Periyar's cooperation to form
a grand All India alliance against the Congress Party. Both of them
supported the war efforts of Great Britain as they considered British
Imperialism a lesser evil than the Fascism of Mussolini, Nazism of Hitler
and the Militarism of Tojo. As a result of Periyar's persistant demand,
the degrading practice of serving separately the Brahmins and the 'others'
in the restaurants in railway stations was abolished in March, 1941.
The conservative section in the Justice Party disliked Periyar's radical
social reform programme, his critical view of religious literature and
the propagation of rationalist ideas. Unmindful of their opposition,
he continued his onward march and gathered around him the youth and
the common people. It was during this period in 1942-43 that Maniammai
joined the movement and came to attend to the personal needs of Periyar.
She was devoted to the leader and served him sincerely. They married
later in 1949.
The Justice Party's provincial
conferenfce held in Salem on 27th August 1944 marked a turning point
in Periyar's movement. The name of the Party was changed as Dravidar
Kazhagam. The members were asked to give up the posts, positions and
titles conferred by the British rulers. They were also required to drop
the caste suffix of their names. It was also decided that the members
of the movement should not contest the elections. In other words, the
Justice Party which was political was transformed into Dravidar Kazhagam
and became a non-political socio-cultural movement. It remains so even
today. It was in the historic Salem conference, Periyar allowed Mr.
K.Veeramani, the present General Secretary of Dravidar Kazhagam, who
had not yet completed 11 years then, to stand on the table and address
the gathering. Arignar Anna introduced him to the audience as the Thiru
Gnanasambandar of the Self-respect movement. (Gnanasambandar was a precocious
devotee and composer of hymns in the Saivite lore). In the last week
of December 1944 and in the first week of January, 1945, Periyar undertook
a tour of North India. On 27th December 1944, he spoke in a conference
of the Radical Democratic Party in Calcutta (Kolkotta). M.N.Roy introduced
him to those assembled as his atheist preceptor. In 1945, a volunteer
corps of black shirts was organised.
The Dravidar Kazhagam flag,
in the ratio of 3 : 2, a red circle in the middle in the black background,
was adopted in 1946. The black represented the deprivations and the
indignities to which the Dravidians are subjected to under the Hindu
religious milieu. The red stands for the determined efforts to dispel
the ignorance and blind faith among the people and to liberate them
materially and mentally from all kinds of exploitation, particularly
those of social and cultural. A two-day conference of black-shirt volunteer
corps was organised in Madurai in May, 1946. On the second day the pandal
was burnt down at the instigation of Brahminical Hindu Sanathanis. In
the same year on 9th December, Periyar raised his sure voice against
the manner in which the Constituent Assembly was constituted. Periyar
declared that 15 August 1947, when India became politically free, was
a day of mourning because the event marked, in his opinion, only a transfer
of power to the Brahmin - Bania Combine, whose socio-cultural domination,
in addition to economic exploitation, would be worse than the British
rule.
The adoption of the Republican
Constitution of India in 1950 was also viewed by him in a similar vein.
Though he had basic differences with Mahatma Gandhi, Periyar was terribly
grieved when he fell a victim to the bullets of a religious fundamentalist
of the Hindutva variety on 30th January 1948. He even suggested on the
occasion that India should be renamed as Gnadhi Naadu. The Congress
government of Madras Province banned the black-shirt volunteer corps
in March 1948. But that only made Dravidar Kazhagam more popular. As
a result more than a lakh of people, most of them in black shirts, assembled
in the D.K.Conference held on 8,9 May 1948. Periyar revived the agitation
against Hindi when it was again introduced in the schools in June 1948.
Though the authorities were stubborn in the initial stages and took
stern steps against the agitations, they had to yield in course of time
to the popular will, and withdrew the scheme of compulsory study of
Hindi. The firmly entrenched and deeply rooted social evils in India
centre around the existence and perpetuation of the caste system known
as Varna-Jaathi which forms a basic and inseparable part of the theory
and practice of Hindu religion that sanctifies the stratified heirarchy
or graded inequality. The beneficiaries of this social structure are
the Brahminical upper caste people who have enormous material resources
and mental capabilities obtained through unjust privileges and exclusive
traditional advantages. Those who work for the complete transformation
of the social order have to wage an unequal war. By his experience and
serious thought, Periyar was convinced that the individuals and movements
that undertake the task of eradicating the social evils in India have
to pursue the goal with devotion and dedication without deviating from
the path and with uncompromising zeal. If they contest elections aiming
to assume political power, they would lose vigour and sens of purpose.
But many among his followers had a different view. They wanted to enter
into politics and have a share in running the government. They were
looking for an opportunity to part with Periyar. When he married Maniammai
on 9th July 1948, they quit Dravidar Kazhagam stating that Periyar had
set a bad example by marrying a young woman in his old age - he was
70 and she 30. Those who parted company with Periyar formed Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam - DMK, under the leadership of C.N.Annadurai (Arignar
Anna). Least perturbed by sentimental and motivated protests, Periyar
marched on with redoubled vigour to found an enlightened egalitarian
society. After the adoption of the Republican Constitution on 26th January
1950, Brahmins went to the Madras High Court and then to the Supreme
Court in the same year asking for the discontinuance of the provision
of reservation in educational institutions to the historically disadvantaged
communities, on the plea that the provision violated the fundamental
right to non-discrimination. The courts upheld the plea and declared
reservations meant to promote Social Justice unconstitutional. Periyar
organised meetings and conferences against the judgement, and also initiated
agitations that gained momentum as days passed by. As a result, the
Constitution {First Amendment Act} was passed in 1951 adding the Clause
4 to the Article 15: "Nothing in this article or in clause (2)
of Article 29 shall prevent the State from making any special provision
for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes
of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes."
The Periyar Self-respect Propaganda Institution was registered on 23rd
September, 1952.
In 1953, as instructed by
Periyar, the Buddha's Day was celebrated through out the state urging
the need to follow a rationalist way of life, and the idols of the elephant
god Vinayaga (Ganesha) were broken to demonstrate symbolically the inefficacy
of the innumerable deities worshipped by the educated and uneducated
people. In the meanwhile C.Rajagopalachari who had become the Chief
Minister of Madras State for the second time between 1952 and 1954,
had introduced the scheme of conducting classes in the schools in the
forenoon and asking the students to learn the traditional jobs of their
parents in the afaternoon. At the first stage it was implemented in
the rural areas of the state. The Dravidian leaders rightly assessed
that the scheme was a clever device to keep the Shudra and Panchama
castes as illiterates or semi-literates. Their children had just begun
to attend school after centuries of denial of educational opportunities.
They dubbed C. Rajagoplalachari's scheme as Castiest Education Plan
(Kula Kalvi Thittam) and began to agitate under Periyar's leadership
demanding its withdrawal. As a consequence, the Chief Minister had to
resign in March 1954, and Kamaraj assumed office on 14th April. Kamaraj
abolished the half-day-teaching scheme, and assured Periyar that his
Government would extent educationasl facilities to people in every nook
and corner of the state. He also asured that he would sincerely implement
the policy of communal representation opening up opportunities to the
under-privileged in education and administration. As Kamaraj adhered
truly to his assurances, Periyar gave him his unstinted backing. Though
Periyar supported Congress nealy 30 years after he quit the same in
1925, his support was more to the person than to the party. In Novembr
and December, 1954 and in the the first week of January 1955, Periyar
and his wife Maniammai went on a propaganda tour to Burma and Malaysia.
In Burma (now Myanmar), he attended the Buddhist Conference, and had
a discussion with Dr. B.R.Ambedkar. Perhaps this was the last meeting
between the two great men, before the latter passed away on 6th December,
1956. They had similar views on almost all the points related to socio-religious
issues in India. Periyar went to the burial ground in Thanjavur on 28
March 1955 to pay homage to Pattukkottai Azhagirisamy (Azhagiri, the
dare-devil), an ardent follower of Dravidar Kazhagam principles and
a fiery speaker, who passed away on the same day in 1949. He found a
board indicating a separate place for burial for Shudras! Periyar wrote
a letter to the district collector expressing his objection to the display
of the board and to the practice of following "Varna dharma"
even while burrying or cremating. As a consequence, the board was removed
and the practice discontinued. On 1st August 1956, the Dravidar Kazhagam
undertook an agitation of burning the portrait of Lord Rama as he symbolised
the preservation of Varna dharma. Periyar was placed under preventive
arrest on this occasion. The States in India were reorganised on linguistsice
basis on 1st November 1956, and Periyar welcomed this measure.
In those days, the board
"Brahmins Hotel" was displayed, following the lead given by
the Brahmins, to indicate that only vegetarian food was served there.
Dravidar Kazhagam objected to the Varna dharma connotation and started
an agitation symbolically in front of a hotel in Madras (Chennai) on
5th Mary 1957. Batches of volunteers agitated daily and 1010 of them
courted arrest till 22nd March 1958 when it culminated in success. The
provisions of the Constitution that helped to safeguard Varna-Jaathi
(Caste system) was burnt by about 10,000 volunteers of Dravidar Kazhagam
on 26th November 1957. In this historic agitation, about 3000 of them
were sentenced to undergo various terms of rigorous imprisonment, from
two months to three years. On Decermber 14, 1957, Periyar was sentenced
to undergo six months imprisonment in a case based on fabricated police
diaries where in he was accused of asking his followers to use force
against Brahmins, an accusation which Periyar naturally denied. Two
of the volunteers, Ramasamy and Vellaichamy, imprisoned for burning
the provisions of the Constitution supporting casteism, died in jail.
Their bodies were obtained with great effort by Maniammai from the unwilling
and obstructing prison authorities and burried with due honours, after
being taken in an emotionally charged procession through the main streets
of Tiruchirappalli. Due to the rigours they underwent in prison, about
15 people died soon after they were released. In January 1959, Periyar
went to Bangalore to participate in the All India Official Language
Conference. Along with General Kariappa and Medappa, he stressed the
need to retain English as the Union Official Language. In February he
undertook a tour of North India and propagated his principles of rationalism,
social justice and self-respect way of life. In June 1960, Periyar asked
people to burn the map of India as a protest against the Central Government
using the Union of India for upholding and safeguarding caste system.
About 4000 people were arrested for taking part in this agitation.
In 1962, Periyar wrote a
special article in the Tamil Rationalist dai ly, "Viduthalai",
welcoming the present General Secretary of Dravidar Kazhagam, Thiru
K.Veeramani who had offered to become a full time volunteer of the movement
giving up his lucrative profession of a lawyer. The Congress leader
K.Kamaraj expressed his wish to resign Chief Ministership and work wholetime
to strengthen the Party. Periyar sent a telegram to Kamaraj stating
that it would be suicidal to the people of Tamil Nadu and to him, if
he quit the office as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. But Kamaraj
did not change his decision, and consequently M.Baktavatsalam became
the Chief Minister on 3rd October, 1963. As recommended by the National
Integration Commission under the Chairmanship of Sir C.P. Ramaswamy
Iyer, the Parliament enacted a law in 1963, prohibiting the propa gation
of ideas demanding separation from the Indian Union. Periyar vehemently
opposed the law. In April 1964, Dravidar Kazhagam conducted meetings
throughout the State, condemning the Supreme Court's verdict against
the State's Act fixing a ceiling to land-holding. The spontaneous and
fierce agitation that raged through out Tamil Nadu between January 25
and February 15, 1965 against the imposition of Hindi resulting in several
deaths, was criticised by Periyar because it was rudderless and unorganised.
In the name of protecting cows, an unruly mob, motivated by the Hindutva
ideology attempted to burn the Delhi residence of K.Kamaraj and kill
him on 7th November 1966. He escaped by sheer chance. Periyar strongly
condemned this barbaric attack and called upon people to be vigilant
to protect Kamaraj by all means.
Dravidar Kazhagam supported
congress party in 1957, 1962 and 1967 general elections, and opposed
DMK which formed the government in the State in 1967. Soon after, Arignar
Anna (C.N.Annadurai) went to Tiruchirappalli along with all his ministers
and paid his homage to his mentor. Periyar was happy when the DMK regime
renamed Madras State as Tamil Nadud and made Self-fespect marriages
legal. It was a non-religious mode of performing marriages introduced
by Periyar in late 1920s. Though such marriages were not recognised
by law till 1967, thousands of them were conducted due to the influence
of the principles of Self-respect. In October 1967, Periyar undertook
a North Indian tour and asked people to work for the eradication of
caste system. On 12th and 13th of October, he addressed a Conference
of BCs, SCs, STs and minorities in Lucknow. Periyar was deeply saddened
when Arignar Anna, one of his chief disciples and an unquestioned leader
of millions of Tamil Youth, passed away in his 60th year on 3rd February
1969. Dravidar Kazhagam decided in its Central Committee meeting in
November to undertake an agitation demanding to put an end to the practice
of appointing only Brahmins as Archakas in Agamic temples, as a way
of removing one of the root causes of Varna-Jaathi. An Award was given
to Periyar by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO), and it was presented to him by the Union Education
Minister, Triguna Sen in Madras (Chennai) on 27th June 1970. The citation
hailed Periyar as "the Prophet of the New Age, the Socrates of
South East Asia, Father of Social Reform Movement, and Arch enemy of
ignorance, superstitions, meaningless customs and base manners."
"Unmai", a Tamil monthly (now a fortnightly) and Modern Rationalist,
an English monthly, were started by Periyar in 1970 and 1971 respectively
to propagate the ideals of rational humanism more extensively. Proscription
of the Hindi version of Periyar's book on Ramayana was lifted by the
Allahabad High Court in 1971. In the same year the proscription of "Ravana
Kavyam" proscribed by the Congress Government of the Madras State
was removed. On 12th January 1971, the DMK Government enacted a law
giving equal opportunities to qualified persons irrespective of their
birth in any Varna or Jaathi. On 23rd January a huge "procession
of the eradication of superstitions" took place in Salem. The processionists
carried large pictures and portraits truly depicting the events and
gods described in epics and puranas. When a few intolerant orthodox
onlookers threw footwears at the procession, the marchers used the same
materials to beat the portrait of Rama beheading the Shudra Sambuka
in deep meditation. This action of the Periyarists was blown out of
proportion by the media through out India. They also published the pictures
of gods and goddesses carried by the marchers. This event was used against
DMK-Congress alliance in the general elections held in March 1973. But
both the parties secured massive majority - the DMK in Tamil Nadu Assembly
and the Congress in the Lokh Sabha. On March 14, 1972 the Supreme Court
gave a seemingly ambiguous judgement in the case against the Tamil Nadu
Government's 1971 enactment that threw the job of Archakas open to all
the qualified persons irrespective of their caste. As this judgement
was interpreted by the bureaucracy in favour of the conservatives who
defended the status quo, Periyar announced an agitation, exhorting people
to work for equal human rights in all spheres including social, religious
and cultural. This agitation had become necessary to remove the indignity
to the people belonging to the Dravidian race because they were dubbed
as Shudras and Panchamas according to Vedic and Brahminical Sanathana
Dharma known as Hindu religion. Periyar organised a conference in Chennai
on 8th and 9th December 1973. It was known as "Eradication of the
social indignity of the Tamils Conference". The conference decided
to fight for equal rights and opportunities for persons of all castes
to enter into Garba Graha (Sanctum Sanctorum) known as "Karuvarai
Nuzhaivu Porattam" in Tamil. He undertook extensive tours to explain
the need to bring to an end the Brahmin domination or privileges in
priesthood and in other religious rites and ceremonies as an essential
measure to reorganise the social order on the basis of equality. In
the meanwhile the court set aside on October 11, a case against carieing
on the pedestal of Periyar's statues, his famous pronouncements (made
in 1967) denying god, and denouncing the worship and propagation of
the same. In his last meeting at Thiagaraya Nagar, Chennai on 19th December
1973, Periyar gave an inspiring clarion call for action to gain social
equality and dignified way of life. He fell ill on the next day and
breathed his last on 24th December 1973. Periyar's life marked a turning
in history and the beginning of a new era.
Dravidar Kazhagam under Annai
Maniammai ( 1974-78)
On 6th January 1974, the
Central Committee of Dravidar Kazhagam elected Mrs. Maniammai as the
President of the movement. Mr.K.Veeramani continued to be the General
Secretary. All the members and the office bearers took the pledge to
carry on Periyar's work following the way he had laid down without yielding
to any kind of temptation. Maniammaiyar protested against the celebrtion
of Ramlila in Delhi as it degraded the original inhabitants of India
as Rakshasas (demons), monkeys etc., and also gave a distorted view
of history. As her protest fell on deaf ears, she celebrated 'Ravana
Lila' in Chennai. This lead to her arrest. Mr. K.Veeramani and other
members of the movement were also detained. Under Maniammaiyar's leadership,
the agitation announced by Periyar to gain equal opportunities to enter
into the Sanctum Sanctorum was continued in the form of picketing before
the post offices and showing black flags to Union Ministers. General
Secretary of Dravidar Kazhagam, Mr. K.Veeramani , hundreds of office
bearers and members were put behind bars under MISA immediately after
Tamil Nadu was brought under President's rule during emergency dismissing
the DMK Government on 31st January 1976. Mr. K.Veeramani was brutally
beaten in Chennai Central Jail when he protested against the assault
on the co-prisoners belonging to DMK . Tamil Nadu had been ruleld by
the Governor and his advisers. Public meetings were not allowd. As in
the case of other news papers, the Tamil daily, "Viduthalai"
was put to severe censorship. Under these trying circumstances, Maniammaiyar
toured various parts of Tamil Nadu and met the members of the movement
in indoor meetings. They exchanged views. Her advice and encouragement
acted as a tonic in those days. The Government did not allow even to
celebrate the birthday of Periyar in the headquarters at Chennai. When
Maniammaiyar showed determination, the ailing lady was arrested and
detained for a few days! The Government of Indira Gandhi, responsible
for the emergency rule, was defeated in the general elections held in
March 1977. When she came to Chennai, Dravidar Kazhagam showed black
flags against her. Maniammaiyar, along with other members, were imprisoned.
While he was in prison, Mr.K.Veeramani lost his father, C.S.Krishnasamy.
Mrs. Maniammaiyar who steered the ship of the movement with courage,
skill and tact during the crisis of emergency died on 16th March 1978.
She would ever be remembered for her devoted service to Periyar, which
prolonged his life, and also for the leadership qualities she showed
during the brief stint she directed the movement. Her simplicity, strong
will, real concern for the welfare of the common men and the zeal to
work for their progress were a real asset to Dravidar Kazhagam, an unique
social revolutionary movement.