CHENNAI: Eulogizing ‘Dravidam,’ an idea and an identity that has come under severe criticism recently from the DMK’s political opponents, Chief Minister M K Stalin said that it was Dravidam (Dravidian) that christened the motherland as Tamil Nadu, earned reservation for various marginalized communities, fought for women’s rights and facilitated the opening of so many schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and libraries in the State.
Speaking at an event organized in Villupuram on Tuesday to inaugurate a memorial for 21 social justice warriors, who laid down their lives in an agitation organized by the Vanniyar Sangam in 1987 demanding 20 per cent exclusive reservation, and another for former Minister A Govindasami along with his statue, Stalin said it was Dravidam that created the modern Tamil Nadu.
The development would continue and keep at bay the dominant forces and retrograde groups that had been unable to rear their heads as they had been doing in other parts of the country, thus tiring out those who take the help of traitors and fake elements to launch a multi-pronged onslaught on the State, he said in a veiled attack on Hindutva groups.
The modern State that was there for all to see was set up by the DMK government by former Chief Minister C N Annadurai and M Karunanidhi and if all the departments were in places of primacy, the credit should go to the principled rule of the Dravidian Model government, he said and appealed to those who had been lending a helping shoulder to continue their support.
The opening of the memorials for the ‘martyrs’ of the Vanniyar agitation and for Govindasamy were clear attempts by the DMK to impress upon the dominant Vanniyar community in the district that the DMK always had their interest in mind. It was also specifically driven home by State Minister for Water Resources and DMK general secretary Duramurugan, who explicitly made an appeal to the community to support his party.
Stalin specifically praised Govindasami for raising his voice in the legislature demanding the re-naming of the Madras State as Tamil Nadu and as the first election candidate to contest under the ‘Rising Sun’ symbol, which is now the DMK’s iconic representation among the public.
Inaugurating 321 completed schemes worth Rs 882 crore in the district, laying the foundation for 116 new schemes and distributing assistance to 35,003 beneficiaries of welfare schemes, Stalin said that the 21 persons, for whom the memorial had been set up, were shot down like crows during the AIADMK regime in 1987.
It was then the DMK had given the assurance that it would fulfil their demand for 20 per cent exclusive reservation when it came to power and honoured the promise in 1989, a decision that had helped many persons from the Vanniyar community come up in life, he said. Besides, the DMK government withdrew the cases filed against 2 lakh protestors for blocking the roads and the cases filed against the Vanniyar Sangam leaders under the Goondas Act, he said.
