There is a need for books in the English language about stalwarts of the non-Hindi heartland since their contributions tend very often to be marginalised or forgotten in the national narrative, Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor said on Saturday.
Speaking at the launch of MGR: A Life by R. Kannan at Kalaivanar Arangam here, he said biographies of northern leaders and accounts of history from a northern perspective were widely available.
Mr. Tharoor said the present volume on former Tamil Nadu chief minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) was important since it would open the doors for non-Tamil readers to gain insights into the history and growth of the Dravidian movement.
ADVERTISEMENT
On MGR, he congratulated “that great Tamil hero, who is still also a Malayalee,” who had vowed that no child would go hungry under his rule and was responsible for feeding over 69 lakh children, destitute and the elderly through the midday meal scheme, which is now one of the flagship programmes of the MHRD.
Kasturi and Sons Chairman N. Ram recalled the watershed moment when a regional party, the undivided DMK, was underestimated and even called the Koothadi Katchi (party of street performers).
ADVERTISEMENT
Watershed moment
But, he said, this was a great political miscalculation and the dominant political party of that time [in the State] was permanently relegated to the position of the junior partner. The Congress has remained in the second division and the BJP and others hardly mattered, he said.
Underlining the need for respecting the federal structure and regional political parties, Mr. Ram said, “The same kind of arrogance that brought the Congress low will happen to anyone else who tries to succeed to that throne in Delhi. This is a political lesson that has to be learnt and Kannan’s book expresses this, without being dogmatic.”
State Congress party president Su. Thirunavukkarasar recalled how even people in distress just loved to meet MGR.
“When MGR visited Nagapattinam and asked them what they wanted, the affected people just told him his visit was enough,” he said. Long-time associate of MGR, R.M. Veerappan, said the book must also be translated into Tamil.