Sirgapoor Sahil Reddy - Week 3

WEEK 3 READING SUMMARY
CHAPTER 10-PERIYAR AND THE STATE OF DRAVIDANADU ALONGWITH CHAPTER 11 – DALIT POLITICS
Sirgapoor Sahil Reddy
20161245

E.V.Ramasamy Naicker who is often referred to as Periyar is the founder of the Self-Respect Movement. He started this movement after he had walked out of a session of the Indian National Congress when his resolution for the reservation was not allowed. The Self-Respect movement followed the same principles as that of the Satyashodak Samaj, which was primarily the rejection of the dominance of the Brahmins in the Hindu religion and the oppression of the non-Brahmanical castes which were referred to as Sudras in Tamil Nadu. This movement propagated the concept of ‘Samadharma’ which was a religion that believed in equality of all its subjects, unlike Hinduism which had its inherent caste system. This movement was closely linked to Marxism as well, with a lot of the followers believing that the caste-based discrimination faced by the lower castes was on similar lines as that of the oppression of the working class, because the lower castes in most cases were the workers of the upper classes in India. By the 1930s the Movement gave up its effort to combine class and caste, instead developed a more adequate analysis of caste itself. Another key aspect to be noted about Periyar, was his acceptance of Islam and Christianity, mainly Islam and his choice to align with Pakistan rather than India, in order to combat the caste system which was intrinsic to the Hindu faith. He believed Islam was the getaway for ‘Sudras’ as they would never lose their identity otherwise. He proposed a ‘Dravidanadu’ country in South India on linguistic lines, comprising the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam speaking majority territories, as he believed in the oppression of Dravidians by the Brahmanical Aryan community. He wanted the formation of this country on the same lines as the formation of Pakistan, as a getaway from the Hindu Nationalist agenda of Gandhi and the conservative approach of Nehru.
The concept of Samadharma would still be applicable in India today, even after 80-90 years of its inception. There is still widespread caste-based discrimination in this country and hence it makes us question whether if this religion had received the requisite support at the time of its inception and if it had a far-reaching effect, then would there have been a positive effect on the Hindu religion as we know it today or not?
Periyar, in his experiences of caste-based discrimination, had equated his sufferings of being a Sudra to that of the suffering of a woman like Ramabai. In my opinion, these two cannot be equated, as they entail their own challenges. He has also gone onto state that conversion to Islam would ensure that the Sudras lose their religious identity and they are not discriminated against for being low castes, but the conversion to Islam would also entail its own difficulties, especially for the women.
The Logic for this movement still remains the same as other Dalit movements-
1.     The challenge to the supremacy of Brahmins and Brahmanic Hinduism
2.     Inclusion of Backward castes, which was also the main reason for the formation of the self-respect movement in the first place
3.     Lastly, in order to form a new political and economic direction, as Periyar rejected both Gandhian principles as well as the class-based Marxist approach.

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