The author says that "His number one enemy was caste and today, we see only caste politics in Tamil Nadu". This was the problem with Periyar's approach. He demonized one caste(he famously stated"if you see a snake and a brahmin, you may let the snake go, but must kill the brahmin"), but did not really address the problem of caste based discrimination. His political children in the DMK, ADMK, MDMK, etc. are carrying on his policies, which will almost certainly bring down India as a country. Periyar was illiterate, so he could think originally, but he did not know history, nor had he developed any sense of logic. His ideas may have been relevant in 1924, but certainly not relevant today in 2007. Indians and people of Indian origin need to stop thinking of themselves to be belonging to a certain caste, or religion, and try to help each other. WE always need to look at a person's legacy after 50 and 100 years. Gandhi's ideas are accepted as great ones(although many were impractical)all over the world. Ashoka, and Akbar are still considered great rulers, although they both started badly by killing hundreds of thousands of people. Periyar's status?
RE:RE:Periyar
by bhuvanesh kumar on Apr 30, 2007 10:10 AM Permalink
The whole thing behind his ideology is clearly stated, he was clearly against Brahmin's dominance in the society, When there prevails an equality , Who is gonna discuss about the reservation, Anti-brahmin movement...
RE:Periyar
by biz Narayan on Apr 30, 2007 09:50 AM Permalink
A different group of people had identified their no-1 enemy was caste, for they couldn;t convert enough by breaking these societies.
Periyar was there to get some power, and he allied himself with certain people.
