The Dravidian Legacy

As the doyen of the Dravidian movement passes away into history, had an interesting conversation with my son today - trying to tell him the legacy he leaves behind and the lies he has to battle against. As always, Sibi had the correct understanding of the events of the past two days and all I have to do was to fill in the history of the movement. 

Kalaignar

The Dravidian movement - from day one - is a literacy movement in disguise as a political movement. One of the earliest memories I’ve is the small, single-room ‘padippagam’ (Reading room) at the corner of our street in Madurai, run by the local cadre. We lived in a modest, one hall/kitchen house - opposite to a bunch of huts - derisively called slum. The reading room will have a bunch of news papers and books and there will be usually someone who is reading loudly with a few more listening.

 

This is a common sight across Tamilnadu. The Dravidian movement put at its heart, education as a priority. This comes from the legacy of the Justice party of the pre-independence days, which had the education of non-Brahmins as its core ideology. The Dravidian movement inherited it and had made it a priority for the past 70+ years in a state.

 

To me, all the rest of the ideologies of the Dravidian movement takes a backseat or derive from this fight for a right to education of the oppressed classes and castes. The definition of the oppressed castes/classes have changed over the years but the fight for that right has not ceased.

 

The trident of this movement - Periyar, Anna and Kalaignar - never wavered from this fight. I call it a fight - since from the day of the formation of the two Dravidian parties - Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) - have literally have to fight it out with the powers that be every inch of the way - in the streets, in the ballots, in the legislature and in the courts. In every history of this movement, this is the only thread that gets repeated under various guises.

 

The Kulakalvi scheme - by Rajaji - which was opposed tooth and nail by all non-Brahmin parties starts off this history followed by the Anti-Hindi agitations of the 1950-60s which catapulted the party to power in 1967. The Anti-Hindi agitations are not just agitations against the hegemony of a foreign language - but also for a right to an inclusive education for everyone in the state who had Tamil as their primary language. It is also a fight for the right of the states versus an autocratic center rule. This fight continues even today.

 

Once in power, Anna - and followed by Kalaignar - took up the fight with a two-language education which eventually paid off. The drive to an education for all - which include building high-caliber institutes in the state and building medical colleges in every district, also meant that the social indicators of the state steadily climbed in the 50 years of rule to a stage where any of these numbers are on par with the developed countries.

 

The fight was not just for the education - but for a social justice in education. The reservation policy implemented from the first term of the rule and with steadily increased percentages has resulted in a amalgamation of graduates and skill pool which drives the economic growth of the state. The first time graduate scheme or the much-reviled free cycle/laptops/sandals/uniforms and the Mid-day meals scheme - meant that the government took care of not just having the kids in schools but also ensured that they don’t drop out.

 

The fight against NEET or the reservation policies or the welfare schemes - all need to be looked at from this background. The fight is not to ensure that the upper caste/ upper middle class is able to get the education it wants. It is to ensure that the students from the under-privileged sections of the society - the son or daughter of your maid or the boy from the government school in an interior village - has the same shot at the education as the rest of the people.

 

This is a fight that is not going to end anytime soon - the privileged group is not going to give up anything without a fight - and to continue this fight - to ensure that education remains affordable for everyone and everyone has a fair shot at education - the Dravidian movement has to keep the flame of this fight alive - in memory of the doyens who have fought for this for the past century or so. That is how we will have to remember Kalaignar.