E-Paper
TN politics: Tamil nationalism versus Dravidian identity
There is a subtle but an influential intersection of the debate between Tamil nationalism and Dravidian identity in Tamil Nadu politics for over a decade
There is a subtle but an influential intersection of the debate between Tamil nationalism and Dravidian identity in Tamil Nadu politics for over a decade. There are curious and interesting dimensions to this debate with the Tamil nationalists seeking separate identity based on language, culture and politics while advocates of Dravidian identity emphasising that Tamil nationalism is intrinsic to the Dravidian politics without forfeiting language, culture and identity within the plural, multicultural and multinational state system like India. Although the polarisation appears to be real and raging yet the debate itself is a camouflage of the long drawn power rivalry and mask for political competition as a response to the century old influence and impact of Dravidian politics.
At the same time, it is equally important to identify, acknowledge and classify the sources of Tamil nationalism as party and non-party movement based entities articulating their claims and rights with their definitions of Tamil identity and legitimacy for power. The Tamil nationalists argue that Tamil and Dravidian identity are mutually exclusive and therefore need not reinforce each other.
There are two historical but conflicting interpretations of the term “Dravidian” with the common reference to majority of people living in Southern India (south of Vindhiyas) and the other with the location of Brahmans in the south which later became an indication at large for all including the indigenous people.
In cultural-anthropological terms, the Dravidians are an ethno-linguistic family of people with a unique culture, ethnicity and history who largely live in the south Indian states and speak one of several Dravidian languages including Tamil which alone retains eighty per cent of Dravidian linguistic characteristics. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam are known as the great league within the Dravidian family of languages.
Given the pre-colonial and post-independent history and political developments, the territorial assimilation of Madras Presidency during the British colonial administration largely retained the characteristics of classical understanding and interpretation of the Dravidian identity.
It is the linguistic reorganisation of states in the post-independent period which not only provided an impetus to the surge in linguistic identity within the larger Dravidian linguistic family but also acquired a momentum for political quest among the subaltern groups within each of the linguistic members.
The caste and class composition of the Indian National Congress (INC); Aryan-Dravidian divide and the language rights consciousness gave a powerful cultural-political-ideological orientation to the Dravidian movement with an inclusive worldview of Tamil-Dravidian orientation. The birth of Dravida Kazhagam (DK) and the journey of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) harmonised this historical transition with a twin edge of resistance to the north centric post-independent Indian politics while accommodating the claim for separate statehood for Andhra and territorial settlements with other neighbouring states including Kerala and Karnataka.
The Tamil nationalists formed the socio-cultural and intellectual basis of the Dravidian movement in the first half (1900-1950) of the 20th century and later made a substantial contribution to the rise and role of DMK during the third-quarter (1950-1975) of the same period. A slow but gradual alienation of the Tamil nationalists from the major Dravidian parties including the DMK, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) was taking place despite the continued access and maintenance of channel of communication between the Tamil nationalists and Dravidian parties.
The love and hate relationship continued with an open exhibition of dissent and cautious distance for all political purposes until the emergence of Eelam liberation struggle as a critical question in the politics of Tamil Nadu with an acute polarisation between the Dravidian parties and Tamil nationalists due to the effects of realpolitik and the Union government’s Sri Lanka policy impacting upon the role and responses of the Dravidian parties.
The drift was obvious after May 2009 with an electoral defeat of the DMK in 2011 and 2016 assembly elections and the tactful harvesting of Tamil nationalists’ votes by the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK despite her strong opposition to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The formation of the Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) on May 18, 2010, a year after the end of Eelam War-IV in Sri Lanka as a revival of SP Adithanar’s “We Tamils” (Naam Thamizhar Katchi) marked a decisive shift in the Tamil nationalists’ movement with the departure of cultural-intellectual movement to party-political orientation with the rise of Seeman exhibiting political eccentrism and theatrics.
The high tide and low ebb of the Tamil nationalists’ movement crisscrossed at the same point of a capricious and opportunistic political trap laid out by Seeman.
The cultural-intellectual voices of Tamil nationalism including the highly respected and eminent political leaders were either silenced or besieged by the fascist and megalomaniac traits of Seeman with the routine exhibitions of delusions of grandeur and an obsession for power.
Given the courting by all and sundry in the name of Tamil nationalism and electoral networking with the AIADMK, Seeman has learnt to survive with the opposition to the DMK because of the end of his tales and waning influence among the Eelam Tamil Diaspora. It is an irony of sorts that he has found more compatibility with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu and often serves as a diving board for the BJP in launching its attacks against the DMK.
Seeman and his political outfit NTK has been gripped by a sudden panic of desertions after the launch of actor Vijay’s Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) although Vijay holds no direct threat or challenge to Seeman and his political journey. It is the fear of displacement beyond the periphery of Tamil Nadu politics that has nudged him to reach the iconic mediators to convince the BJP leadership of his services in platter.
The debate between Dravidian identity and Tamil nationalism needs a genuine pause with a distinction between the mobilization of opposition to the DMK through electoral politics and the revival of reinvigorating cultural – intellectual traditions of Tamil nationalism as a counter narrative to the Dravidian identity politics. There is a yawning gap between the two roles reflecting the strength and dynamism of the Tamil society with a plural, diverse and the universal mind echoing the legendary poet Kaniyan Poongunranar who wrote 2000 years ago that “to us all places are one, all people our kin,” leaving the question ‘who is a Tamil?’ to rest in peace.
Seeman is a backwater channel for the BJP in Tamil Nadu drew attention of the undecided youth and peripheral voters
(Prof.Ramu Manivannan is a scholar-social activist in areas of education, human rights and sustainable development through an initiative “Multiversity.”)
