DMK revives antagonism for religion
Sreenivasan Jain,Daniel, Sanjay Pinto
Tuesday, September 25, 2007 (Chennai)
The DMK claims its views on Lord Ram is just a legacy of its ideology of aggressive rationalism.
But many sait's a legacy that's past its sell by date and that Drvaidian politics has long made peace with mainstream religion.
It's films like Paraskati that became a vehicle to spread the aggressive anti-religion ideology of the Dravidian movement and of Periyar - its founder.
But the compulsions of electoral politics in a deeply devout state like Tami Nadu made CM Annadurai - Periyar's successor - take a more benign view of religion with his credo - one community, one God - a credo that ensured a gradual cooling of the raging fires of Dravidian rationalism.
Today in 2007 this is not uncommon when Karunandhi shares a stage with Sai Baba and with another local godman, Jakki Vasudev.
Karunanidhi's son MK Stalin also seeks divine intervention during an election campaign in Chennai. DMK party cadres also made its peace with mainstream religion.
Former speaker Parithi Ellamvazhuthi is a devotee of Lord Muruga and former speaker Palanivelrajan is also a religious person.
So why then the sudden anti-Ram outburst? What does Karunanidhi have to gain?
To Dravidian scholar MSS Pandian this new outburst reminds him of a similar volatile moment almost two decades ago during a conference in Salem in 1971 hosted by Periyar.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007 (Chennai)
The DMK claims its views on Lord Ram is just a legacy of its ideology of aggressive rationalism.
But many sait's a legacy that's past its sell by date and that Drvaidian politics has long made peace with mainstream religion.
It's films like Paraskati that became a vehicle to spread the aggressive anti-religion ideology of the Dravidian movement and of Periyar - its founder.
But the compulsions of electoral politics in a deeply devout state like Tami Nadu made CM Annadurai - Periyar's successor - take a more benign view of religion with his credo - one community, one God - a credo that ensured a gradual cooling of the raging fires of Dravidian rationalism.
Today in 2007 this is not uncommon when Karunandhi shares a stage with Sai Baba and with another local godman, Jakki Vasudev.
Karunanidhi's son MK Stalin also seeks divine intervention during an election campaign in Chennai. DMK party cadres also made its peace with mainstream religion.
Former speaker Parithi Ellamvazhuthi is a devotee of Lord Muruga and former speaker Palanivelrajan is also a religious person.
So why then the sudden anti-Ram outburst? What does Karunanidhi have to gain?
To Dravidian scholar MSS Pandian this new outburst reminds him of a similar volatile moment almost two decades ago during a conference in Salem in 1971 hosted by Periyar.
Labels: Dravidian Ideology
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