Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has been leading a steadfast fight against the Union government’s imperious attempts at scuttling federalism by various means.
Interestingly enough, the minority BJP government at the centre, now in it’s third term, is showing unabated aggressiveness despite falling way short of the half-way mark and only surviving with the support predominantly from Andhra Pradesh political parties such as Telugu Desam and Janasena in addition to Nitish Kumar’s JD-U (Janata Dal-United).
One of the flashpoints recently was the Union government’s three language policy diktat and a brazen threat of withholding Tamil Nadu’s share of central funds for opposing it. Stalin has expanded the scope of this battle by pro-actively taking up the impending delimitation issue that will further diminish the role of Southern states that are bound to pale in comparison to some North Indian states if Parliament seats are redistributed and allocated based on population, a slap in the face for states that successfully addressed population overgrowth through decades of education and social empowerment.
DMK is showing the entire country a way forward
On these issues and many more, DMK under Stalin’s watch is showing the entire country a way forward on how to engage with the BJP juggernaut on ideological lines and hopefully ultimately defeat the threat of unchecked hegemony.
In this context, it is a historical necessity to take stock of the many facets of this ideological struggle. Time and again in the past few years, BJP has shown its hardline approach and emphasis on a narrow-minded, conservative outlook while the DMK has opposed it tooth and nail staying loyal to the progressive agenda that is deep-rooted in its name and ethos.
As the BJP bandwagon aided and abetted by forces such as Pawan Kalyan took up shrill Sanatana dharma campaigns, the younger Stalin minced no words in calling the divisive dharma a scourge. While BJP stalwarts want to further Sanskritise India by imposing a myopic historical viewpoint, M.K.Stalin opted for a telescopic view by erecting a statue of John Marshall, the erstwhile Director General of Archaelogical Survey of India who played a key role in unearthing the Indus Valley civilization that pre-dates Sanskrit by eons and is now believed to be the harbinger of proto-dravidian languages.
Research from varied fields such as genetics, linguistics, history and anthropology proves that the South Indian languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam belong to the Dravidian language family that is distinct from Indo-European language family that comprises Sanskrit.
Owing to this fact, Stalin is continuing a long Dravidian legacy of self-respect initiated by Periyar and then carried on by Annadurai and Karunanidhi that places due importance on native language. The two-language policy propounded by DMK and successfully implemented now for several decades in the state of Tamil Nadu has yielded unparalleled results as evidenced by its success in education that then translates in to industrial growth, jobs and empowerment.
It is no exaggeration to state that this policy has helped all other South Indian states that also placed similar emphasis on native language and English due to the common Dravidian thread. In fact, most of the territory now under different South Indian states was part of erstwhile Madras Presidency where the Dravidian movement took birth in pre-independent India.
TDP to Pawan Kalyan and Jagan, Andhra Pradesh politicians emboldening BJP
Ignoring these historical facts, BJP allies such as Chandrababu Naidu, his son Lokesh and also Pawan Kalyan have made comments antithetical to the two-language policy. While one said that they will even teach German and Japanese languages, the other said that Hindi is the National language which it is clearly not. Such comments ignore the ideological underpinnings of this deep-rooted debate, a travesty and injustice to Telugu ancestors that were as much a part of the Dravidian movement.
Trivialisation of this debate intentionally disregards the fact that the opposition is not to any language but rather the imposition of a language against the wishes and aspirations of native people.
On November 27, 2023, Stalin unveiled the statue of Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh in Chennai. Often reviled by rightwing forces for implementing Mandal commission recommendations and heralding reservation for OBCs (Other Backward Classes) in Central government jobs, V.P. Singh, a native of Uttar Pradesh, is an icon of social justice.
By memorialising his legacy, Stalin embraced Mandal politics, a catchphrase that was anathema to “Kamandal” politics that eventually paved the way for BJP’s rise. On the contrary, Andhra Pradesh politicians particularly Pawan Kalyan have tried repeatedly in the past year to ignite Kamandal politics in the state by raking up issues such as Tirumala laddu, attending and advertising their presence at Ram Mandir inauguration, Maha Kumbh, etc.
Also Read: When Rationalism Goes For a Toss in a Stampede of Superstition
Stalin also deepened his ties with OBC forces from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar by displaying bonhomie with Akhilesh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav on numerous occasions, a testament to the fact that DMK’s fight is against brute dominance and not against North India as a whole.
Senior DMK Parliamentarian A Raja has repeatedly voiced his support for a Nationwide Caste census, a topic being championed by leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi. On the contrary, the ruling Andhra Pradesh government led by NDA talks about skill census, a veiled strategy to thwart the importance of caste census. Such an approach toes the line of BJP that sees caste census as a threat to the virtual reality of Hinduism’s “Vasudhaiva Kutambam”.
Pawan Kalyan has openly criticised not just the DMK but the Dravidian ideology itself. Strangely enough, he had the audacity to absurdly rally against historians such as Romila Thapar for their scientifically evidenced writings on Aryan migration into India while proclaiming himself to be a well-read intellectual.
In doing so, he is undermining the importance of his own culture and language that is innately Dravidian whether he accepts it or not. Leave alone the larger context of ideology, in their prostration to BJP bosses, Andhra Pradesh politicians are scuttling the futures of their own political parties by not putting up a fight against delimitation.
While it is obvious why Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan would want to remain in lock, step and barrel with Modi-Shah, it is mindboggling to see that YSRCP’s Jaganmohan Reddy has decided to stay away from Stalin’s Delimitation Joint Action Committee (JAC) in spite of receiving a personal invitation.
A political suicide and homicide of the aspirations of Andhra people
This is nothing but political suicide and rather a homicide of the aspirations of Andhra people being conducted by both the ruling and opposition parties of Andhra Pradesh. Neighbouring Telugu state political parties from Telangana both the ruling Congress represented by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Opposition BRS attended the JAC meeting standing shoulder to shoulder with Stalin, further exposing the isolationism of Andhra Pradesh in this important South Indian issue.
In essence, mainstream Andhra Pradesh politicians have chosen to remain as mere talking heads and regional satraps to the imperial BJP at the center rather than join South India’s fight against hegemony at this historical juncture.
Only time will tell if this chink in South India’s armour will help BJP maintain its stranglehold on India or if it will turn the tables and extinguish the futures of these Andhra political parties rather!
G. Naveen is a physician who writes on politics and social justice.
