A Raja, a DMK MP, has sparked controversy with his recent statement, dismissing India as a nation and branding it as a subcontinent instead

Nothing is shocking in the statement made by A Raja MP, that India was not a nation but a sub-continent. “India was neither a nation in the past nor will it remain as a nation in future,” declared Raja while addressing a meeting held by his party, the DMK.

Neither the DMK nor the Dravida Kazhakam, its precursor, accepted the concept of India. The founding fathers of these Kazhakams (Tamil for Forum) have an inherent hatred towards anything that is Indian. The Dravidians firmly believe Robert Caldwell, a British evangelist who came to India during the colonial era, claims that there is no link between the Dravidians and Aryans (north Indians) and Tamil is the mother of all languages. The Dravidians have no answer to the question of how an evangelist with no known credentials as a linguist claims that Tamil has no connection with Sanskrit.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the DMK patriarch, who never missed any chance to ridicule Sanskrit and Hindi is on record insulting these languages as impotent. The name Karunanidhi itself is a Sanskrit term. His grandchildren Udhayanidhi, Dayanidhi and Aditya, grand nephews Kalanidhi and Dayanidhi flaunt Sanskrit names. Karunanidhi’s son Stalin, the reigning chief minister, claims that Sanskrit and Hindi are part of Hinduism.

This is not the first time people like Raja have courted controversy by putting their foot in the mouth. Immediately after the 2019 Lok Sabha election, T Thirumavalavan, who is the founder of the SC/ST outfit VCK declared that North Indians were not welcome in Tamil Nadu. He also declared that Rohingya Muslims and Islamic immigrants should be given citizenship in Tamil Nadu. Thirumavalavan, in his eagerness to prove his anti-Hindutva stance, went one step further and changed the name of his nonagenarian father from Ramasamy to Tholkappian!

Every uttering by the leaders of the DMK and its allies gives enough hint that they are for seceding from India and forming a separate Dravida Nadu. Stalin, while speaking in a public function at Erode in 2018 declared that a separate Dravida Nadu was still an agenda of the DMK and it has been put on the backburner for the time being.

Stalin declared that all South Indian States should unitedly demand a Dravida Nation. “If such a situation comes it would be welcome. We hope that such a situation arises,” said the DMK chief. Stalin has become wiser over the years to understand the truth that Tamil Nadu can never become a stand-alone State without Karnataka and Kerala. If Karnataka refuses to release Kaveri River Water and Kerala decides to go ahead with its plans to build a new dam in place of the existing Mullaperiyar, which has outlived its utility, Tamil Nadu is in for major crisis.

The intransigent attitude of the Dravidian party not to accept the reforms and suggestions proposed by the Centre is ample proof of the fact that the State wants to pursue an independent path. Its refusal to launch the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya program in the State speaks volumes of the DMK’s aversion to anything that is Indian. A scheme conceived and introduced by late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to make public school education available to the poorest of the poor in the country envisaged the setting up of Navodaya Vidyalaya in each district of India.

The school to be built in the backward region of the district would have a cosmopolitan atmosphere with students drawn out from all over the country a la the public school in Dehradun where Rajiv Gandhi had his schooling. While the concept was accepted in toto by all States, Tamil Nadu remains the only State in India that has not allowed the opening of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. The reason? The DMK’s opposition to teaching Hindi and Sanskrit. Though this is a blatant violation of Fundamental Rights assured in Part III of the Constitution, Congress is reluctant and afraid to take up the issue with its Big Brother.

The AIADMK has been mesmerized by the DMK’s claim that any move to introduce Hindi in Tamil Nadu would have disastrous results. Hindi was accorded the status of national language by Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation. Chennai is the headquarters of Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha which was instituted by Gandhi. He was the chairman of the Sabha from its inception in 1918 till his last in 1948.

While the DMK is always at the forefront of attacking Sanatana Dharma for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, the party has no qualms about having an electoral alliance with forces that support the assassins of Rajiv Gandhi.

The party had gone out of its way to get clemency for the murderers of Rajiv Gandhi and even their liberation from imprisonment. The MDMK led by Vaiko and VCK led by Thol Thirumavalavan are fanatic supporters of LTTE and its founder V Prabhakaran. Every year on the birth and death anniversaries of Prabhakaran, rationalists Vaiko and Thirumavalavan offer prayers for the LTTE chief and his comrades who waged war against India.

There are enough instances to prove the secret secessionist plans being conceived by these elements. The DMK and its associates are a threat to the national security and integrity. The centre and other state governments are advised to be “Caveat Emptor” (Customers, Beware!) in their dealings with the DMK and fringe parties like MDMK and VCK.

(The writer is special correspondent with the Pioneer, views are personal)