Periyar: Standing tall nearly a century later

CHENNAI: It’s been nearly 90 years since he set up the organisation that became the fountainhead of political and social thought that moulded Dravidian Tamil Nadu. Fifty-one years have gone by since he passed away. But the passage of decades, a period that witnessed revolutionary changes in every imaginable facet of life, has done little to diminish the impact of EV ‘Periyar’ Ramasamy. Now, in this contemporary age, the iconoclast extraordinaire continues to capture the imagination of the masses.

While speaking to a disparate group of ‘Periyarists’ from various parts of the State and abroad, this reporter discovered that all their answers had one simple thing in common (which he himself had said): “Even in this ‘modern’ world, the stark reality of societal structure still holding onto the hegemony of gender, caste, class, religion, race, and sexuality hampers true emancipation. Amid the ironical melding of technological modernity and social regression, who better to emulate than the leader who famously proclaimed “Oppression is my enemy”?

Being a Periyarist

“As I am from the Dalit community, I have always had questions about casteist oppression,” says Raja Durai, a Periyarist from Chennai.

Recounting how Periyar made him sleepless for months, he says the leader made him wonder how he never thought of questioning the status quo in society. “Despite belonging to a privileged community, Periyar chose to speak out against caste abolition, and thus he inspired me to look at life differently,” he adds.

Sharing how the Periyarist-thought shaped him and his life, Durai explains, “I stopped feeling guilty about my caste or creed; rather, I started understanding the flawed social construct. Periyar pushed me to speak against exploitation instead of just remaining within the system. I got the confidence that human beings have the grit to solve problems that life throws at them instead of blaming God.”

Durai holds onto two cornerstones in life: “One is focusing on the process of enlightenment, irrespective of the scale of change. Another is being open to criticism, which helps us be consistent with healthy discourse.”

Although a feminist even before getting fully exposed to Periyar’s ideas, ideals, and ideology, Mohana Ravindra, a rationalist from Malaysia, says reading Periyar helped liberate her mind even further. “His ideas helped me realise the importance of constructive criticism against religion. Periyar gave me clarity on what to question and how to question.”

The Periyarist thought has transcended even to the queer community. “Periyar was a trigger point in my life that helped me change my approach toward society. I became confident to process my transition as a woman and to equip myself to survive in this society,” says Agni Pradeep, a trans woman and queer activist.

Relevant even today

The contemporary climate marred by ever-rising Hindutva hate politics, continued caste discrimination and violence against minorities has prompted the need for consistent dialogue on social justice, like never before, and what better to turn to in these times than the Periyarist-thought.

“We have to view Periyar like a reference book that one needs to read in depth to gauge the pulse of society and understand how social evils persist,” opines Sri Vidya, political commentator and activist. “There is an urgent need for more rational thinking to create friction in society as human beings are largely selfish and scared. The common people can be easily manipulated on different levels by right-wing ideologues. This is where the left wing has to step in and propagate Periyar’s ideas to uproot the social evils.”

Going on to share an example of a social evil – caste – and how it continues to impact communities in myriad ways, Vidya says, “I’m a Brahmin by birth, and I am married to a family that belongs to the OBC community. Both my family and my husband’s family are finding it difficult to come to terms with my political stance. The society has inculcated Brahminical supremacy to an extent where the dominant castes fear losing power that they get through hierarchy while the OBC castes feel solace that they are above the SC/ST communities,” she avers.

Taking the social justice conversation beyond caste, Mohana points out that in the Malaysian Tamil society, racism was a crucial problem that needed to be addressed. “As Periyar’s goal is to achieve social equality, his ideals can function as a base to counter other social evils, including racism,” she explains.

In the same vein, Agni says that although Periyar had not spoken about the rights of trans people, his fight to liberate marginalised people is akin to the struggle for trans rights and justice. “If the ideologue had been alive today and could witness the oppression and humiliation the trans community is going through in society, he would have raised his voice for us and made us fight for our rights,” believes Agni.

Stating that the State government is preparing draft policies for LGBTQIA+ and trans persons, Agni says, “The trans protection policy work is in progress nowhere in India but in our State because this is Periyar land. This policy is not possible if it wasn’t for Periyar.”

Women empowerment

Geetha Elangovan, an independent filmmaker and Periyarist, states that Periyar made her develop a nuanced understanding of feminism as he explained the gender and caste intersections. “However, society has failed to understand his stand against motherhood, misconceiving it as a threat to culture,” she says. “In reality, Periyar advocated for the much-needed awareness of reproductive rights.”

Referring to her book Dupatta Podunga Thozhi (Wear a dupatta, my friend), Geetha says the book was entirely based on Periyar’s feminist ideologies, one that explored the concepts of chastity, religion, and caste. “Periyar’s ideas are the basis of my life decisions as well. I have never regretted my decision to not have children and not cook because I had a clarity that I don’t need society’s approval to lead my life. This allowed me to work on social reform activities by enhancing my skills in direction, writing, and producing documentaries like Maadhavidaai (Periods).”

Even men need to be aware of the pitfalls of patriarchy, says Sri Vidya. “I realised we should also focus on sensitising the oppressor rather than empowering the victim alone… Thus, both men and women need a leader like Periyar.”

Concurring with the women, Durai emphasises that women should be liberated within, referring to Periyar’s statement that a woman cannot find her freedom from outside or from a man.

Widely misunderstood

Periyarists also have another task cut out for them: tackling the narrow, oversimplified perspective that Periyar was just an anti-religious figure, which then obscures all of his other ideas and contributions, they argue.

It’s imperative for Periyarists to not only criticise religion but “also focus on every other aspect of society, as just being an atheist will not help in fighting social evils. Periyar is a controversial figure in Malaysian Tamil society,” remarks Mohana, alluding to the 2021-incident where a portion on Periyar in Tamil school textbooks in Malaysia had kicked up a row. Alleging that Periyar was anti-Hindu, the Malaysia Hindu Sangam had demanded the portion be removed.

There are more such instances like the persistent vandalism of Periyar statues to a recent AI-generated picture of the leader and his wife Maniammai with pigs. “People resort to provoking the rationalists as they cannot come up with constructive criticism against Periyar,” Agni reasons.

Vidya concurs and quips, “The same critics of Periyar fail to understand that they are also victims of the same societal prejudices.

Periyar in today’s political landscape

Popular opinion among Periyarists: “Being a Periyarist is a lifelong commitment, one that political parties who espouse the visionary’s tenets must fulfil.”

However, despite advocating Dravidian ideology, parties still remain anti-Dalit and anti-women, claims Durai. “Don’t use Periyar’s name for publicity or to get votes; rather try to live by his words. If not, there is no difference between you and the privileged castes,” he criticises.

Accusing the Dravida Kazhagam for not taking steps to make Periyar’s writings accessible to the public, he says, “There are copyrights for Periyar books. Why is Dravida Kazhagam not giving it away for free? And why take private ownership of his works have? The government should take steps to solve this issue.”

He also laments over the lack of implementation of Dravidian ideologies at a grass-roots level by the governments. “Ideologies always stem from the need to emancipate marginalised people, but the ones who come to power using those ideals are not from the marginalised society. Unless and until this imbalance exists, these ideologies cannot be implemented practically, and they will be just on paper. Lack of healthy criticism by the Dravida Kazhagam against the Dravidian governments is one of the reasons for society being stagnant despite this being a Periyar land,” he elaborates.

Taking a different stance, media analyst Dr L Chinnappan says, “Social reform should precede political reform to facilitate social reconstruction. DMK follows the core ideologies of Periyar, but it has deviated a bit compromising for the sake of electoral politics while the AIADMK has completely compromised with Dravidian ideologies. MK Stalin paying homage to caste leaders like Muthuramalinga Thevar and Immanuel Sekaran is part of the political compromise that the DMK resorted to. Differing from Periyar’s perspective of complete denial of the existence of God, CN Annadurai had proposed the Ondre Kulam Oruvanae Devan (One Clan, One God) concept to include the theist population, too.”