B R HARAN
'Why scared ash and sacred thread in this holy land where all religions coexist in harmony?' asked the Tamilnadu Chief Minister Karunandhi through one of his 'poems', which he writes everyday in his party organ 'Murasoli'. 'Truth is God and those who cannot understand it are ignorant', wrote Karunanidhi and added, 'the face-off between atheists and theists is useless'. It has always been the habit of Karunandhi to ridicule only Hindus and their rituals & customs and his atheistic credentials are so selective that, he has never shown the 'courage' to ridicule the practices of other religions.
Hinduism is the only religion, which has adopted Atheism as a part of it and this is the only religion in the world having a place for even atheists. Hinduism has established its supremacy through many debates in its scriptures and the excellent arguments between Bhagwan Rama and Jabali Munivar was an apt example for it. But one cannot expect such 'truths' in Karunanidhi's Ramayana, which questions the qualifications of Rama, calls him drunkard and addresses Sita as the sister of Rama!
Even while ridiculing Hindus, their culture, customs & rituals, Karunanidhi has a penchant for insulting Brahmins. This must be the hundredth time he has commented about the 'sacred thread'. It all started with the great social 'deformer' E V Ramasamy Naicken, called as 'Periyar', who applied 'anti-Brahminism' as a strategy to promote his racist outfit 'Dravida Kazhagam' through the concept of Aryan Invasion theory concocted by westerners, thereby alienating the 'Tamils' from the 'Hindu' fold. He projected Brahmins as Aryans and poisoned the minds of the gullible masses. Quite often he used to convey the message of racism with Dravidian compassion through the statement, 'If a Brahmin and snake are seen together, the Brahmin must be killed first!' He was such a hypocrite that during times of crisis, he preferred to consult the Brahmin Rajaji on even personal matters.
Annadurai, who joined EVR's Dravidian Movement, was also a strong critic of Brahmins and he continued that sickening legacy even after exiting from DK and starting his own DMK. The DK & DMK played havoc in the society and persecuted the poor Brahmin community, who do not even form 3% of the state's population. The Dravidian goons used to attack the Brahmin Priests quite often and cut their sacred threads and tufts. M Karunanidhi and K Veeramani inherited this ugly legacy from Anna and EVR and both of them are still attempting to use it as a political strategy (whether it helps or not is different) and also to have sadistic pleasure. The recent addition to this anti-Brahmin lobby are Thirumavalavan's VCK and Ramadoss's PMK, who fully utilise their TV Channels 'Tamizhan' TV and 'Makkal' TV respectively, to carry out their anti-Brahmin propaganda.
Though the anti-Brahmin tirade of the Dravidian leaders will go for pages if written, a few examples of latest episodes would suffice to expose the Dravidian psyche behind the politics of anti-Brahminism. With the advent of the DMK Government in May 2006, the state has been continuously witnessing, or rather, experiencing 'irrational' rationalism of the 'Dravidian' order in many issues. The Dravidian leaders in general and Karunanidhi and Veeramani in particular are extremely and irrationally eloquent in approach, analysis and assault. It is done with a sort of animosity towards Sanskrit in the guise of love towards Tamil, with an enmity to Brahmins in the guise of love towards the so-called Shudras and with hostility to Hindus in the name of love towards Tamils.
As the Chief Minister is supposed to be the Head of the State for all the people living in the state irrespective of their caste, creed or colour, his irrational rationalism has been a subject of discussion here, more so because of the right that has been obtained from voting him to power. While his 'brilliance' and 'eloquence' on Hinduism has been discussed and exposed many times in the past, his obsession on the 'sacred thread' needs an exclusive and special focus.
After promulgating a law for appointment of 'Archagas' (Temple Priests) from all castes, the DMK government opened six training centres to train the boys for 'one full year' and to place them in any one of the temples controlled by HR & CE department in the state. Though the response for the training centres has been poor and inadequate, the government has reportedly come out with an order saying that the trainees and the new recruits must not wear the 'poonal', the 'sacred thread'.
When the opposition leaders and a few alliance partners demanded a probe in the 'telephone tapping' issue and asked for his resignation on 'moral' grounds, citing the precedence set by the Late Ramakrishna Hegde, former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Karunanidhi came out with a 'gem' of a statement by saying, 'What to do, this Chief Minister does not wear the 'sacred thread' and he was not born in the caste represented by God's 'face', but was born in the caste identified with the God's 'feet'. The fact of the matter is that, the Chief Minister, who represents the 'lowest' part, the 'feet' of the Almighty, has the 'power' to order tapping of telephone talks of those leaders, who represent the 'higher' parts of the Almighty! If any one attempts to find the 'rationale' behind the CM's statement, then he or she would be dubbed as irrational and idiotic! Here again, he used the issue to distort the Hindu religious scriptures for his own convenience to denigrate the Brahmin community.
When recently the Supreme Court emphasised the exclusion of the 'creamy layer' in its verdict of staying the implementation of 27% reservation for OBCs in elite educational institutions, Karunanidhi and Veeramani could not digest it and said, 'how could two or three persons decide the fate of millions'? 'The two Judges who issued a stay order were 'thread-wearing' Aryans!'
When Karunanidhi ridiculed the Hindu custom of having Tilaks on forehead and wearing sacred threads in his party organ last week, the Janatha Party President Dr Subramaniam Swamy, through a press statement, asked him to concentrate on good governance instead of pontificating and mouthing sarcasm on what people should wear and what they should not. Dr Swamy has said, 'Karunanidhi's latest nugget of 'wisdom' is in asking Brahmins not to put on the sacred thread and women not to affix the bindi ('Pottu' in Tamil) on their forehead to create a feeling of equality among the people. Soon he may dare to ask the Sikhs not to put on their turban, grow their hair, and Muslim women not to go around in 'burqas''. Refering to Karunanidhi's 'hugely stupid' comments on Lord Rama, and the state of undress of statues installed inside temples, Dr Swamy said, ' these latest inane remarks make me demand that Karunanidhi undergo a medical examination to determine if he is still in his senses since Article 164 of the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court in 2001 requires the Chief Minister to be of sound mind' and added, 'If Karunanidhi means what he says, he should first stop sporting the yellow shawl which he hangs around his neck to ward off evil spirits, which incidentally was recommended to him by his Brahmin Yoga teacher'. It may be recalled that over a period of time, Karunanidhi has given a number of 'rational' explanations for his sporting the yellow shawl, not even one convincing enough!
Karunanidhi and Veeramani have never shown courage in questioning the customs of minority communities. They will issue 'greetings' for Christmas and Ramzan but not for Deepavali. They will talk of 'Tamil' Archanas in Temples, but never demand Tamil worship in Mosques despite the fact that there are a number of Muslims in the state, who do not know either Urdu or Arabic. They will question the sanctity and authority of Hindu calendar, but not the English or Arabic calendar! While voicing support for LTTE in the guise of 'Srilankan Tamils', they will not ask why all those Tamil leaders liquidated by LTTE happened to be 'Hindus'.
Close on the heels of Karunanidhi's diatribe against the Hindu custom of sporting Thilak and wearing sacred threads, Veeramani exposed his intelligence by saying, 'All the newspapers and magazines run by Brhamins are writing against Sri Lankan Tamils'. Taking strong exception to this statement Dr Subramaniam Swamy has said that Veramani has again relapsed into his anti-Brahmin phobia and warned, 'by such fulminations Veeramani has committed cognizable offences under three Sections of the IPC and two Sections of the Unlawful Activities Act, and therefore can be prosecuted and sent to prison any time'. Dr Swamy also said, 'over the centuries, when Brahmins have been targeted, they have been helped by Kshatriyas, Yadavs, and other backward class people to finish off Asuras and Rakshasas. Recently, the BSP leader aligned with the Brahmins of UP and trounced her opponents. Hence, Veeramani should realise that the days of DK freely victimising Brahmins are over'. Dr Swamy, through his press statement, has reminded Veeramani that his three-storey Periyar Memorial Building near the Delhi Airport was demolished by the Delhi Administration in July 2001, as it had become a transit camp for LTTE infiltrators and that he could do nothing to prevent it, despite the support of the Congress leaders and the DMK. He has also said in his press statement, 'in the Trichy Sessions Court a case of attempt to murder me is still pending, and he can be convicted any time in that case. If Veeramani cares so much for the LTTE, he should migrate to the jungles of Jaffna and fight for them there. In India, there is no sympathy for them'.
This sustained hate campaign against a miniscule community, which is not even 3% in the state, can be attributed to the 'inferiority complex' of those who were carrying out this campaign. The 'Dravidian' psyche is driven by this inferiority complex, which might have also been the caused by 'personal' experiences in the past! Whatever said and done, playing such racist games and fascist politics will be dangerous to the peace and progress of the society. There is nothing wrong in being rational and following rationalism, but there should not be room for 'irrational' ideas. They must understand that 'Periyar' is a failed brand and that there are no takers for anti-Brahminism now-a-days. One need not be a 'thread wearer' to understand this fundamental fact.
Kamaraj had never worn a 'sacred thread' to realise the importance of primary education, but came out with a brilliant 'noon-meal' scheme to improve the attendance of children in schools of rural areas. Despite wearing a 'sacred thread', Rajaji could reveal the importance of entrepreneurship by advocating for education through vocational courses. It all depends on character and morality. It doesn't mean that one should wear a 'thread' to show morality. Kamaraj had never worn a 'sacred thread' and Rajaji was wearing one. Both of them have proved that the 'thread' had got nothing to do with 'morality' in public life. Morality is something, which is connected to 'Arivu' that is Knowledge and not 'Paguththarivu' that is rationalism! 'Paguththarivu' gels well with 'Immorality', which forms the foundation principle for the concept of 'Dravidianism' standing on the pillars of 'Kazhagams'. The continuance of these irrational utterances would finally lead to 'Asthamanam' (End) of the 'Paguththarivu Pagalavan' (Rational sun)!
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