CHENNAI: A delegation of 50 Tamil scholars left for Germany on Wednesday for a three-day international conference ‘Periyar Self-Respect Movement, 2017’, to be held at the University of Cologne, Germany, 85 years after Periyar E V Ramasamy visited the country in 1932 to propagate the self-respect movement.
Said to be the first self-respect conference to be held outside India, the conference to be held from July 27 to 29 aims at propagating the ideals of Periyar, which followers believe hold the key to putting an end to several religion-based and caste-based problems across the globe.
The conference, organised by the US-based ‘Periyar International’, commemorates the 91st anniversary of the self-respect movement started in 1926.
Delegates from across the world, including 41 delegates from Chennai, led by K Veeramani, who has succeeded Periyar as the leader of the Dravidar Kazhagam and is also the Chancellor of Periyar Maniammai University, Thanjavur, are to participate in the conference, said members of the DK.
“Apart from members of the DK, delegates from countries such as China, Indonesia, Japan and Russia will participate in the conference,” said C K Prithviraj, a member of the DK.
In a statement hailing the move to conduct a conference on Periyar’s ideals in Germany, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader Thol Thirumavalavan said, “The fact that Periyar’s teachings are being translated to Germany’s Deutsch language, that can help take his teachings to several European nations, is a historical feat.”
Periyar’s biography and the book ‘Periyar on God and Man’, translated to Deutsch, are to be released during the inauguration of the conference.
In a similar statement, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko said, “We are happy that delegates from countries like the US, France and England are to come together in Germany to celebrate the self-respect movement that gave birth to our Dravidian movement.”