COIMBATORE:The Aathi Thamizhar Peravai (ATP), a Dalit rights organisation, has urged the State government to lift the ban on the book 'Madurai Veeran Unmai Varalaru' (Real History of Madurai Veeran) written by Kuzhanthai Royappam and published by the outfit in 2013.
“The movie Madurai Veeran, written by Kannadasan and starring MGR, was released in 1956 with many inaccurate details such as he was born in Kasi (Varanasi) and the Dalit couple, who according to the movie are his foster parents, spotted him when he came floating in the river,” said Ra Athiyamaan, the organisation founder.
“How would the child flow to Madurai from Kasi, when there is no direct river link between these places? All these stories have been to cooked-up to hide the fact that Madurai Veeran is a Dalit by birth,” he claimed. “The book was published in 2013 after conducting field research by the author, to reveal the true life history of Madurai Veeran and it neither contained any distorted facts nor does it offend any caste.
“The book has been banned after two years of its publication, when the elections are just around the corner, to appease voters. But no community has objected to its contents in the last two years, and hence the ban should be immediately revoked. The organisation is considering legal routes, if the ban is not revoked,” he said.