Those from outside Tamil Nadu or even young Tamils themselves might find it intriguing that an atheist like Periyar is one of the biggest icons of a devout Tamil populace. What led to this seeming paradox? How did this rational leader capture the imagination of a religious people?
Dravidar Kazhagam leader K Veeramani’s words answer this question in a nutshell. He once said, “Periyar is not only a revolutionary leader, he (his thinking) is synonymous with science, which dispels the darkness of ignorance.”
A freethinker, ‘Periyar’, as E V Ramasamy was respectfully called, never let social identities such as religion, language, gender, nation, caste or race shackle his thinking. The man had the indomitable will and courage to evaluate social orders without prejudice and to point out its fallacies and suggest remedies.
For a people who had long lived through the oppressive social hierarchy of caste, religion and gender, Periyar’s words opened up their minds, particularly to the concepts of social justice and self-respect.
Independent thinker at an early age
From a young age, Ramasamy, who was born in 1879 to a wealthy family in Erode, was an independent thinker. His family is said to have been so rich that they paid income tax of close to Rs 1 lakh as far back as the 1920s. They were so well-placed in society that they hosted members of the Travancore Royal family and other wealthy, aristocratic people often at their home. Yet, the young Periyar was not one to simply enjoy the comforts of his privileges, while he saw inequalities all around him.
In fact, early on, he began questioning the apparent contradictions he saw in Hindu mythological texts. Periyar firmly believed that caste was a social evil that needed to be destroyed. And for this, religion which is at the root of caste, had to be cut away. Periyar thus questioned the theory of the existence of gods and did his best to inculcate rational thinking in people.
“If a god created an unequal society and made millions suffer in the name of religion and caste, the very purpose of being a god is lost,” Periyar said. His atheism stemmed from this logical reasoning. He also observed that human beings evolved as a strong species chiefly because of our ability to use our brains effectively.
Importance of self respect and wisdom
He believed that wisdom and selfrespect were the primary factors that distinguished a person. And he plunged into working for society to make people realise this fundamental truth. His journey was long and arduous but the work of this prolific writer and speaker served to change the psyche of the Tamil people. Those who hitherto accepted all sorts of indignities began realising the importance of self respect.
All through his life of 95 years, Periyar relentlessly fought for these ideals. He had learnt from his personal experiences why inequality prevailed in society. Inequality in India did not arise out of economic disparity as commonly believed; caste played a crucial role in it. People were and continue to be discriminated based on their caste.
Unlike other reformers of that time, Periyar was not ready to accept cosmetic remedies and worked for the annihilation of caste, like BR Ambedkar.
Besides, a look at Periyar’s works would reveal what a farsighted individual he was and how he predicted the progress of humankind several decades ago.
Reservations facilitated education for all
Let’s look at a few examples. We are aware of the fact that education was a distant dream for the vast majority of people in Tamil Nadu at the beginning of the last century. In 1924, when various parts of the country were gearing up for the nation’s Independence under the leadership of Gandhi, Periyar was preparing for social independence.
He pressed for a resolution at the annual state congress conferences to pressurize the ruling regime to implement a government order for fair representation of communities in educational institutions for the pursuit of higher studies. When his move was thwarted, he quit the Congress party that he had been a part of and founded the self-respect movement.
Nearly a 100 years on, the fruits of social justice born out of the self-respect movement are being harvested in Tamil Nadu thanks to the seeds sown by Periyar. People of oppressed communities who were denied education and disparagingly told to “go and graze cattle” are today shining as engineers, doctors and so on as a result of community-based reservation.
Immediately after the independence, when the Constitution was framed, the communal reservation that was in force till then was suddenly quashed by court order. Periyar’s strong reaction to it is what led to the first constitutional amendment in this regard.
So, the question of why religious Tamils hail Periyar as a hero is quite evidently answered by the fact that the millions who benefited from reservation are certainly likely to shower their affection on the person who championed their rights.
Reservation Policy -Fair Mode
With the continuous and consistent struggle the reservation rights for the historically oppressed sections have been achieved. To the extent of quantum achieved, the mode of allocation of seats both in educational admissions and jobs based on the marks secured by the reserved categories are not properly carried out. First listing of all the candidates irrespective of reserved or not reserved categories have to be ranked based on the marks secured by them. From that list starting from the highest mark scorer the seats have to be allocated in the general vacancies. Afterwards, the remaining candidates have to be segregated reserved category wise (SC/ST/OBC) with ranking of their mark and accordingly the seats have to be allocated. This is the correct procedure. But contrary to it in a few processes, the reserved seats are allocated first category wise and then with the remaining candidates the general category seats are being filled. The contrary procedure which is not correct, there exists an occasion wherein the marks secured by the last candidate in the general category is less than the highest scorer in the reserved category.
To rectify it many persons who had secured less marks in the general category have to be substituted with the higher scorers in the reserved categories. To that extent the immediate less scorer than the last allocated candidate in the respective reserved categories will get allocation of seats. Ineligible candidates in the general category will be replaced by eligible and competing reserved candidates.
Recently the Supreme Court in a case pointed out said that by insertion of two OBC candidates into the general category, two general category candidates already appointed shall have to be expelled and / or shall have to be removed and it may set right the entire selection process.
To adhere to the correct mode of selection the nomenclature of ‘general category’ may be officially declared as ‘open competition’ without any abbreviation like OC (it may be interpreted as ‘other castes’ by vested interests). The allocation under open competition has to be decided at first.
Dravidar Kazhagam during the past, rectified the deliberate mentioning of OC as ‘Other Castes’ in recruitment advertisements through timely protest and bringing to the knowledge of the authority.