Medai Pechu' losing its shrill and thrill

Madurai: When MDMK leader Vaiko recently made an unsavoury casteist remark against DMK president M. Karunanidhi, there was a murmur of lament that the man, known for his silver tongue once, had stooped to such a low that he was often caught putting his foot in his mouth.

Indeed, Vaiko comes from a political tradition, in which public oratory (medai pechu) was seen as an art and a craft that was employed as a weapon, along with writing, to lure masses to the Dravidian movement in 1960s.  “At a time when political transformation was brought through armed revolutions in many countries across the globe, DMK used oratory and pen as tools to bring political change in our State,” recalls R.T. Sabapathy Mohan, former Vice-Chancellor,   Manonmaniam-Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli.

Mohan was a student when DMK founder Annadurai and Karunanidhi gave a new form to political discourse. Earlier, political speech was an elite prerogative, which was devoid of literary flourish. “Elitist leaders from Congress party would address the public first in English and then switch to spoken  Tamil (kochai Tamil)”, said Tho Paramasivan, a renowned Tamil scholar.

But speakers of Dravidian movement revolutionised the political discourse, employing sentamil (pure literary Tamil). “Anna’s verbal eloquence and unique articulation of Tamil’s identity emphasising the antiquity of Tamil language; the antiquity of its kingdom and the richness and uniqueness of its literature, stole the hearts of  Tamil people,” said  Tiruchi Siva, DMK propaganda secretary and Rajya Sabha MP, who also became a famous political orator listening to speeches of DMK stalwarts. “It was real education for at least three generations in the state,” said  prominent Tamil novelist Imayam.

Thousands of rustic people from interior villages, who gathered at small towns, would wait for hours together to listen to those speeches because it helped them trace their historical roots and know the richness of Tamil literary tradition. It was a time when   knowledge was an exclusive domain of the elite and trained DMK orators enlightened the masses about their history and literature.

“The speakers of 'sentamil’ were men of learning, of letters and of intelligence. That is why, I used to return home with ten new Tamil usages after listening to a speech of Karunanidhi,” recalls Imayam.  

The DMK, too, trained its speakers by putting them through a week-long session. Perhaps the abolition of the programme could be a reason for declining standards of oratory, said Mohan.

Famous orator Nanjil Sampath recounted his continuous speech for nearly nine hours for a campaign at Aruppukottai for DMK candidate Thangapandian from 10.30 pm. “I was able to keep the audience attentive by feeding them with information on literature and history of Tamil,” he said.

Referring to Annadurai’s famous statement that ‘Medai Pechu’ is an ‘open university’,  Mohan said most young DMK orators didn’t have any formal education, but taught themselves by listening to the speeches and articles published by stalwarts of Dravidian movement.

“Even in the hot political climate, we never made personal attacks like today. In the campaign for the Assembly election after the Emergency, I took pot shots at the Congress rule by using only stories from Mahabharatham as metaphors,” said  75-year-old Trichy  Selvendran, a senior DMK orator.

Esakimuthu, a former DMK leader in Madurai, says the culture of singing paeans to leaders on stage is another reason for decline in standards of political oratory.  Ironically, the standards have dipped to such a low that today oratory is employed for caste mobilisation, defeating its historical significance.

“Medai Pechu is not just about speeches. It has its own set of etiquettes and practices. Speakers will be addressed with respect (as avargaley,) all of them will be honoured with a towel and every one on stage will get a few minutes to address the crowd,” Selvendran pointed out.

Subaltern people were not allowed to wear towel on their shoulder and people would be referred by their caste names in those days. “To put an end to those discriminatory practices, the Dravidian movement leader meticulously brought in this stage culture to treat all people with respect,” said Paramasivan.

Though public oratory is declining with advancement of modern technology such as television and social media which  takes information faster to people, senior orators say personally targeting political leaders like what Vaiko did would only set a wrong precedent for younger generations.