CHENNAI: Condemning Governor RN Ravi's statement that Dravidam was a divide created by the British, DMK treasurer TR Baalu said it was baseless. "There are several books written by historians regarding the origin of words like Ariyar and Dravidar. If the Governor at least skims through the pages of some of these, he will see the truth," Baalu said.
Accusing the Governor of making controversial statements in a bid to grab attention, he recalled Governor’s statements about Sanadhanam a few weeks ago. "Is the Governor trying to say that the word Dravidar did not exist before the 1600s when the British came to India?" he asked
"The word Drivadam is in Manu Sastra, Mahabharatham and Kanchi Puranam. Thayumanavar has used the word. Even Ambedkar has said that Dravidars have been made Sudhras. To say that British used Dravidam to create divide is either a statement by those who don’t know the history or those who want to hide it," he said.
Stating that the Governor should read the texts from the Vedic period to know who are the fathers of division, he added that to say the British created this divide is an attempt to hide history, while it can be argued that the British used the already existing divisions on basis of caste, religion, race and language.
"At present, India is not under British rule. BJP is ruling India. Instead of trying to polish history, they should try to take steps to eradicate these inequalities," he further said.