CHENNAI: Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Monday took strong exception to Governor RN Ravi’s Dravidian identity remark.
The governor had said that “new identities like Dravidian and Aryan came after the British colonial rule and became points of division” at the launch event of the complete works of RSS idealogue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya on Saturday.
Stating that the governor gets irritated at the very utterance of the word Dravidam and has been continuing his verbal war against it, the minister said the governor has been ‘doing everything else perfectly except his duty to accord assent to the Bills adopted by the state Assembly.’
“The Aryan political forces which have been eliminated from the political arena for the past half century have been trying to write new explanations for the books on Sanatan Dharma. We thank the governor who is working every day for making the principles of Dravidian ideology shine in the hearts of the people of Tamil Nadu,” the minister said in a statement here.
Thennarasu charged that the governor has been attempting to confuse the political arena in the state by expressing his own views.
"The governor has forgotten that the gubernatorial post is part of the state government administration. He has transformed the Raj Bhavan into a place for discussing with those working against the state government,” he added.
The minister said the governor had failed to explain how the remark about Dravidam reflected division and that making such a generalised statement could only be considered as whining. He explained that 'Dravidam' was once the name of a landscape, race, and language. 'Dravidam' is a political ideology nurtured by many great leaders like Pandit Ayotheedasar, Sir Pitty Theyagaraya, Dr Natesan, TM Nair, Thanthai Periyar, Rettaimalai Seenivasan, MC Raja, Arignar Anna, 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 the Dravidian movement, and based on this, the Dravidian model of governance is formed. Chief Minister MK Stalin has been reiterating that everything for everybody is his ideal. Where does division come in this ideal?" Thennarasu asked.
The minister further explained that the laws and plans of the Dravidian model governance are common to all and inclusive in nature. Besides, the Dravidian ideology does not divide people. Manusmriti calls Tamil Nadu as Dravidam and Tamils as Sudras, he noted.
"Since the Dravidian movement has become a cause for the emancipation of Tamil Nadu for the past century, the governor expressed his displeasure for the term Dravidam," he added.