DK president’s support for Sasikala evokes criticism

December 29, 2016 12:36 am | Updated 07:45 am IST - CHENNAI:

Dravidar Kazhagam president K. Veeramani .

Dravidar Kazhagam president K. Veeramani .

Dravidar Kazhagam president K. Veeramani’s statement backing V.K. Sasikala for the post of general secretary of the AIADMK has been met with shock, surprise and strong criticism from Dravidian ideologues, Periyarists and Dalit intellectuals.

In a statement on December 27, Mr. Veeramani had said that Sasikala has had to face ‘paper arrows and baseless criticism’ by the media despite her dedicating her life to former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and contributing greatly to her political success. Quoting Periyar, he said, “In this land, there has never been a political struggle – what has been happening under the cloak of politics is war between Aryans and Dravidians.” He said that Ms. Sasikala should lead the party with military discipline.

Reacting to K. Veeramani’s statement, Ramu Manivannan, professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, MadrasUniversity, said, “It is not right. What does opposing Brahminism has anything to do with supporting Sasikala taking over the party? Has she won elections or does she doesn’t have a democratic mandate? He is trying to invoke the paranoia of BJP to justify his support for Sasikala. It is purely money and power politics,” he said.

Arguing that DK was valourising the non-Brahmin identity of Sasikala for identity’s own sake devoid of any political content, Karthick RM, senior lecturer, Azim Premji University, said that Periyar didn’t shy away from criticising leaders such as Annadurai and Kamaraj when the situation demanded. “There is no ideological or empirical proof to assume that a Sasikala leadership will favor a politics of social justice or be a bulwark against communalism. If AIADMK’s modus operandi appeared hazy in the past, it appears quite murky now. Unless there are progressive alternatives, the current scenario may favor the growth of communal and casteist forces,” he said.

While Brahmin/non-Brahmin narrative was justified when Brahmins were occupying every field, Stalin Rajangam, professor, American College, Madurai, said that K. Veeramani’s latest statement of support is an attempt to project a view that nothing really has changed in the last several decades.

“Brahmin power has been controlled and has had to share power with intermediate non-Brahmin castes. In addition to the social privileges in the villages, intermediate castes have gained political power which they are trying to preserve by politically and ideologically protecting and obfuscating the caste-based changes that have happened,” he said.

As someone who has been associated with Dravidar Kazhagam, Ezhilan Naganathan, whose ‘Youth Org’ has held programs in rural Tamil Nadu against religious superstitions and caste, said that the decision to back Sasikala could have been a result of active lobbying by her side. “ Ms. Sasikala has never expressed any opinion on Periyarist ideals so far, or acted as a rationalist. Did Ms. Sasikala at least pay respects to Periyar on December 24? On what basis has the DK president supported her?”

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