Essay On Dravidian Identity

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Dravidian Identity in Changing State and National Sphere;-

From mid 1980’s onward Dravidian movement and identity seems diluting with changing state and national politics. This dilution of Dravidian identity can be studied under following themes:-

Dravidian Identity and Issues of Tamils in Srilanka and LTTE:
The Dravidian movement and identity has always considered the Srilankan Tamil to be a part of their own culture and identity, therefore they always stood in support of the liberation struggles in the island nation of Srilanka. While the liberation struggle which was peaceful till early 1980’s, took violent shape with the formation of Liberation Tiger of Tamil Ealem, i.e., LTTE. While DMK were the sympathizers of the liberation struggle in the Srilanka as they projected common Dravidian Tamil identity, it was not able to arouse any mass following and support for the cause of Tamils in Srilanka. The precise reason for this was the failure of the Dravidian identity to bring people together, due to the circumstances prevailing in the state and as well as in national politics. In Tamil Nadu, it was the rule of AIADMK led by M.G. Ramachandran, who never had any Dravidian ideology and was very close with the congress at the centre. As he was smart to realize that when state is depended on the centre for money and other monetary helps, an anti-centre stance made no sense. With liberation movement getting violent in Srilanka, it was felt both by M.G. Ramachandran and the congress government at the centre that LTTE should be stopped from pursuing violent means.

It was only during the middle of the 1980’s that the DMK began to acquire relevance as an alternative to AIADMK. This was due to the worsening ethnic conflict in Srilank...

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...e of money. The statement which marked the decisive alienation of the women voters was a statement by M. Karunanidhi. On March 1991, at the inauguration of the national front campaign at Patna, he described Jayalalitha as the “political girlfriend of Rajiv Gandhi”. The statement was condemned by Jayalalitha and many women group in the state, which influenced the minds of the people and regardless of her Brahmin origin, so very contrary Dravidian identity, she was elected as the leader of entire Tamil people. The fact is not that DMK lost election to a Brahmin leader, but the point to emphasis is its complete routing in the election. AIADMK won 161 seats out of 164 seats contested and DMK just 2 seats, which again brings to notice that the myth of Dravidian common identity is diluting in the face of changing state and national politics and view points of the people.

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