CHENNAI: “Governor RN Ravi has been working every day for making the principles of Dravidian ideology shine in the hearts of people of Tamil Nadu, and we thank him for that,” Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu has said.
In a statement on Monday, the minister took strong exception to Ravi’s recent statement at a function that new identities like Dravidian and Aryan, something the country never knew, came into existence and became points of division only after British colonial rule.
Thennarasu said, “The governor gets irritated at the very utterance of the word ‘Dravidam’ and has been continuing a verbal war against it. Ravi has been doing everything else perfectly except his duty to give assent to Bills adopted by the Assembly. Aryan political forces, which have been eliminated from the political arena for the past half a century, have been trying to write new explanations to books on ‘Sanatana dharma.’ We thank our governor for making the principles of Dravidian ideology shine in the hearts of our people.”
“Ravi has forgotten that the gubernatorial post is part of the state government administration. He has transformed Raj Bhavan into a place for discussing with those working against the state government,” Thennarasu said.
The governor had failed to explain how the talk about ‘Dravidam’ reflected division and that making such a generalised statement could only be considered as whining. “Dravidam was once the name of a landscape, race and language. It is a political ideology nurtured by leaders like Pandit Ayotheedasar, Sir Pitty Theyagaraya, Dr Natesan, TM Nair, Thanthai Periyar, Rettaimalai Seenivasan, MC Raja, CN Annadurai and M Karunanidhi for around 100 years.
Ayotheedasar has addressed Dravidians as a casteless community. Self-respect, social justice, equality, love for mother tongue and state autonomy and federalism form the basic principles of Dravidian movement. The Dravidian model of governance is functioning based on this. Chief Minister MK Stalin has been reiterating that ‘everything for everybody’ is his ideal. Where does division come in this ideal,” Thennarasu said.
Laws and plans of the government are common to all and are inclusive in nature. “Dravidian ideology does not divide people. ‘Manusmriti’ calls Tamil Nadu as ‘Dravidam’ and Tamils as ‘shudras’. Since the Dravidian movement has become a cause for emancipation of Tamil Nadu for the past century, the governor expressed his displeasure for the term,” Thennarasu said.