Guv: Divisional politics made Dravidian a Tamil identity

CHENNAI: Though the concept of Dravidian covers the people of southern states, it has become a Tamil identity now due to politics of division, Governor RN Ravi claimed on Monday.

“India was a name given to the country and in order to understand this nation, one has to understand Bharat, whose several thousands of civilisation gives us pride,” he said.

“Unfortunately, during the British rule we got divided. Later, we started getting fragmented on political lines. Politics is predominantly about power. For instance, till 1956 there was one Madras state and later states were created on linguistic basis,” the Governor said while inaugurating a two-day programme on Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat - connecting India series, held at Raj Bhavan here.

He found that people who came from Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to Tamil Nadu and living in this state for several hundreds of years are called as migrants from neighbouring states.

“What is this us and they? This politics has divided us. Even at the national-level when we say Dravidian, it covers all these 4 states. But, today, it became a Tamil identity,” Ravi said.

Further divisions by political parties have only created a distance between one another. “Parties will continue to play politics for power and we can’t deny that. They will continue to mobilise on caste, linguistic and communal lines but our core strength is our culture,” the Governor said.

The Governor highlighted the socio-cultural and civilisational identity of Bharat and illustrated how Bharat was governed by Dharma even the kings and rulers had to abide by it, unlike the West where the king was sovereign. People of this enlightened land were moving and settling in different parts of Bharat, in pursuit of wisdom, irrespective of Kings and kingdom,” he pointed out.