Identities over ideas
| Paradoxically, secession was dropped as a slogan around the time the wave of Indian nationalism swept India after the Sino-Indian war of 1962. Tamil Nadu's integration into the Indian nation-state was resisted every inch of the way through a variety of protest movements""based on caste, language and religion. But it was Tamil Nadu that was the haven of democracy where opposition leaders from all over India sought refuge between 1975 and 1977 to escape arrest during the Emergency. In other words, Tamil Nadu may be part of India, but it is very, very different from the rest of India in every respect. |
| In Tamil Nadu, they do things differently. No doubt there are complex sociological and historical reasons for this. But in her thoughtful and eminently readable account of Tamil Nadu politics and society, Vaasanthi captures at least some aspects of the state that has tried so hard to craft its own identity. A profile of E V Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar) through the eyes of Veeramani, Naicker's most faithful apostle and president of the Dravida Kazhagam (DK), is a digest of the history of the anti-Brahmin movement, atheism and rationalism in the state. |
| This would have been the place for a chapter on the current travails of the Kanchi Shankaracharya, his alleged involvement in a murder case and a very public exposure of other "peccadilloes". Was this a pre-poll attempt by Jayalalithaa to revive a tired anti-Brahmin movement and deploy it to boost her party's political fortunes? If the move succeeded, why? If not, why not? |
| According to Vaasanthi, Periyar's movement for atheism and social reform resulted in even more religiosity. The protagonists were the state's backward castes""newly empowered but still in need of gods and goddesses. So, little religions""like the Adi Parasakthi cult""replaced the religion of the gopuram, the Brahmin- and temple-dominated high Hinduism. |
| In the north, we're seeing this phenomenon more than 50 years after Tamil Nadu. The rise of preachers such as Murari Bapu, Baba Ramdev (who, incidentally, is a Yadav) and Sri Ram Sharanam releases religion from the clutches of pandas and mahants, and home-delivers another version to a demanding populace. |
| It is hard to choose the best chapter in the book. But a candidate would certainly be the description of Jayalalithaa's birthday party""the economy spawned by the celebrations in the form of newspaper ads, cut-outs, posters etcetera. In 1995, for instance, the Tamil daily Dina Thanthi carried 55 greetings to celebrate her 47th birthday, with little poems such as "Mother Supreme! You are Christ incarnate in kindness to friend and foe !..." and so on. |
| But equally interesting is the chapter on the complex relationship between the Tamils of Tamil Nadu and the Tamils of Sri Lanka, especially of Jaffna. Vaasanthi explores this through the relationship between V Gopalaswamy (Vaiko) and M Karunanidhi, who was Vaiko's mentor until their relationship broke down""according to Karunanidhi, over Vaiko's relationship with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). While Karunanidhi believes Vaiko's flirtation with the LTTE was just to show him down, Vaiko's assertion was as much about the dilution of Tamil Nationalism in the DMK as it was because of the family cult that had replaced it. We're seeing the culmination of that process now. For tactical reasons, Vaiko has joined the AIADMK that used to be his number one enemy""only because he cannot countenance playing second fiddle to Karunanidhi's son Stalin till the end of his days. Yet, in his campaign for the election currently under way, which could prove crucial in determining the future of power politics in Tamil Nadu, not one of Vaiko's speeches is about the DMK's betrayal of the pan-Tamil movement. |
| Vaasanthi draws deeply evocative portraits of Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa and reaches the conclusion that the two hate each other, and would do anything to defeat each other. It is not rivalry, it is hate. If there is a hung assembly in Tamil Nadu, as predicted by psephologists, the race to form a government will be bloody. Keep Vaasanthi's book by your side to understand why. |
| CUT-OUTS, CASTE AND CINE STARS THE WORLD OF TAMIL POLITICS Vaasanthi Penguin-Viking Price: Rs 425; Pages: 268 |