Tamil Nadu’s oldest rationalist outfit, Dravidar Kazhagam, or DK as it is called, managed to outsmart the state government and a bunch of Hindutva groups by successfully conducting a thaali (mangalsutra) removal festival on Tuesday at its headquarters, the palatial Periyar Thidal, situated in the heart of Chennai. It could not, however, have the satisfaction of also hosting a beef banquet that had also been promised on the same day.
The DK, which is the parent body of all the Dravidian political parties in Tamil Nadu, had announced these two functions against the growing clout of Hindutva outfits in Tamil Nadu. A group of these outfits had attacked the offices of Tamil news channel Puthia Thalaimurai on March 12 for the latter’s plans to telecast a programme on the present-day relevance of thaali. The beef-eating festival was a protest against the ban on beef by the Maharashtra government.
The legal battle
Citing law and order problems, the Chennai police on Sunday imposed a ban on the two events announced a month ago by the DK for April 14, the Tamil New Year’s day, which also happened to be the 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar. The police said its order was based on “intelligence reports and was aimed at maintaining law and order” as it apprehended "disturbance to public order and hurt to sentiments of a community.”
The DK, the reform outfit founded by EV Ramaswamy, challenged the ban order and on April 13 night, around 9 pm, managed to get it quashed by a single judge of the Madras High Court. "I’m only concerned about the freedom of expression if not I won’t be hearing this case at this time,” the judge said, as he delivered the order “to safeguard the right of the petitioner as granted under the Article 19 1 (a) and (b) of the Constitution of India.” The judge also directed the DK to “conduct the programme peacefully” as stated in its petition and affidavit and asked the police to “give adequate protection to conduct the programme in a peaceful manner in terms of the judgments of the apex court and this court.”
But the story did not end there. In an unusual show of interest, the Tamil Nadu government appealed against the single judge’s decision to a two-judge division bench. Though April 14 was a declared holiday in the High Court, a special sitting took place at a senior judge’s residence which began around 8 am and after hearing arguments for about an hour and a half eventually set aside the single judge’s order and stayed both the proposed events.
But by then DK had accounted for the possibility of an adverse order and had advanced the timing of the functions. The events were planned for 10 am originally, but the thaali-removal festival started by 6.15 am and went on for nearly two hours with 21 couples participating. By the time the police arrived with the court order, the 21 women had discarded their thaalis and pledged to lead a life promoting gender equality before DK president K Veeramani.
Battling Hindutva
Incidentally, neither its close ally in the political space, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, nor any other political party in the state, including the left parties, uttered a word during the entire episode. On the other hand, nearly a dozen Hindutva outfits – several of them fringe – and, of course, the BJP have vociferously protested and condemned the DK's move.
Several Hindu groups filed private complaints against the DK at several police stations and the Madras High Court too had directed the police to look into these complaints and, if need be, to file cases against those concerned. Accordingly, in one police station, cases were filed against DK General Secretary K Veeramani for inciting violence and trying to create enmity between two communities.
It is in the light of these circumstances and what the division bench said, as it posted the case for further hearing on April 28, that we have to view the DK’s behaviour.
Immediately after the division bench order was communicated to the DK headquarters, Veeramani formally announced to the huge gathering at Periyar Thidal that they could not go ahead with the events and asked the crowd to disperse. Nearly 1,500 cadres, who had come from several parts of Tamil Nadu, went away peacefully.
Electoral compulsions
In the run-up to the 2016 assembly elections, no political party in the state wants to be on the wrong side of popular sentiment, which is what accounts for the fact that not a squeak of protest was heard from any other significant political quarter and why everyone else kept away from the thaali removal and beef-eating festival. Though the DMK, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the left have a strong soft corner for the DK, sheer electoral compulsions seem to have prevented them from joining hands with the rationalist outfit.
On the other hand, a significant development is the resistance shown by the Hindutva groups and their stridency. In the recent past in Tamil Nadu, the Hindutva groups had never shown this much of organised resistance to the activities of Dravidian parties in general and the DK in particular. The Modi government at the Centre has undoubtedly emboldened these Hindutva groups in the state and several of them have started hitting the streets on any issue which they perceive to be "injurious to the Hindu cause". In fact, on April 14 after noon, just a couple of hours after the DK had cancelled its programmes, a group of Shiv Sena workers tried to barge in to the Periyar Thidal in an auto. This was resisted by the DK workers and in the ensuing pitched street battle nearly half a dozen DK workers were injured. The police arrested five Shiv Sena activists and confiscated country made bombs and sickles from them. These sort of things were unheard of in Tamil Nadu politics even a few years back.
While the emboldened Hindutva groups venture into new areas of political battles and thus hope to expand their influence, the DK has been left to fend for itself as no political party is ready to go against the tide of perceived public opinion, when assembly elections are round the corner. The DK is unfazed, because at no point of time in its existence, ever since it was launched by the late Periyar over 75 years ago, has the outfit contested elections, as its main focus of area remains social reforms.
Veeramani reiterates his outfit's stand with these words: “We will never get tired. We respect the court verdict. We will fight it legally and, if need be, go to the Supreme Court and get permission. After all, we are doing the thaali-removal festival for the past eight decades. " These are brave words indeed, but offer no respite to the police as it is aware that the Hindutva outfits are heavily prepared and readying to up the ante as the elections approach.
The battle has certainly been joined, and the first round seems to have gone to the DK, but what remains to be seen is whether it would win the war against the rising Hindutva.
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The DK, which is the parent body of all the Dravidian political parties in Tamil Nadu, had announced these two functions against the growing clout of Hindutva outfits in Tamil Nadu. A group of these outfits had attacked the offices of Tamil news channel Puthia Thalaimurai on March 12 for the latter’s plans to telecast a programme on the present-day relevance of thaali. The beef-eating festival was a protest against the ban on beef by the Maharashtra government.
The legal battle
Citing law and order problems, the Chennai police on Sunday imposed a ban on the two events announced a month ago by the DK for April 14, the Tamil New Year’s day, which also happened to be the 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar. The police said its order was based on “intelligence reports and was aimed at maintaining law and order” as it apprehended "disturbance to public order and hurt to sentiments of a community.”
The DK, the reform outfit founded by EV Ramaswamy, challenged the ban order and on April 13 night, around 9 pm, managed to get it quashed by a single judge of the Madras High Court. "I’m only concerned about the freedom of expression if not I won’t be hearing this case at this time,” the judge said, as he delivered the order “to safeguard the right of the petitioner as granted under the Article 19 1 (a) and (b) of the Constitution of India.” The judge also directed the DK to “conduct the programme peacefully” as stated in its petition and affidavit and asked the police to “give adequate protection to conduct the programme in a peaceful manner in terms of the judgments of the apex court and this court.”
But the story did not end there. In an unusual show of interest, the Tamil Nadu government appealed against the single judge’s decision to a two-judge division bench. Though April 14 was a declared holiday in the High Court, a special sitting took place at a senior judge’s residence which began around 8 am and after hearing arguments for about an hour and a half eventually set aside the single judge’s order and stayed both the proposed events.
But by then DK had accounted for the possibility of an adverse order and had advanced the timing of the functions. The events were planned for 10 am originally, but the thaali-removal festival started by 6.15 am and went on for nearly two hours with 21 couples participating. By the time the police arrived with the court order, the 21 women had discarded their thaalis and pledged to lead a life promoting gender equality before DK president K Veeramani.
Battling Hindutva
Incidentally, neither its close ally in the political space, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, nor any other political party in the state, including the left parties, uttered a word during the entire episode. On the other hand, nearly a dozen Hindutva outfits – several of them fringe – and, of course, the BJP have vociferously protested and condemned the DK's move.
Several Hindu groups filed private complaints against the DK at several police stations and the Madras High Court too had directed the police to look into these complaints and, if need be, to file cases against those concerned. Accordingly, in one police station, cases were filed against DK General Secretary K Veeramani for inciting violence and trying to create enmity between two communities.
It is in the light of these circumstances and what the division bench said, as it posted the case for further hearing on April 28, that we have to view the DK’s behaviour.
“The question raised in the appeal is substantial and [of] public importance as to whether the fundamental right, freedom of speech and expression and also to assemble peacefully be permitted to an extent of destroying the fabric and ethos of Indian culture causing law and order problem in the light of availability of proper enactment under Article 19 (2) and (3) of the Constitution of India”
Immediately after the division bench order was communicated to the DK headquarters, Veeramani formally announced to the huge gathering at Periyar Thidal that they could not go ahead with the events and asked the crowd to disperse. Nearly 1,500 cadres, who had come from several parts of Tamil Nadu, went away peacefully.
Electoral compulsions
In the run-up to the 2016 assembly elections, no political party in the state wants to be on the wrong side of popular sentiment, which is what accounts for the fact that not a squeak of protest was heard from any other significant political quarter and why everyone else kept away from the thaali removal and beef-eating festival. Though the DMK, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the left have a strong soft corner for the DK, sheer electoral compulsions seem to have prevented them from joining hands with the rationalist outfit.
On the other hand, a significant development is the resistance shown by the Hindutva groups and their stridency. In the recent past in Tamil Nadu, the Hindutva groups had never shown this much of organised resistance to the activities of Dravidian parties in general and the DK in particular. The Modi government at the Centre has undoubtedly emboldened these Hindutva groups in the state and several of them have started hitting the streets on any issue which they perceive to be "injurious to the Hindu cause". In fact, on April 14 after noon, just a couple of hours after the DK had cancelled its programmes, a group of Shiv Sena workers tried to barge in to the Periyar Thidal in an auto. This was resisted by the DK workers and in the ensuing pitched street battle nearly half a dozen DK workers were injured. The police arrested five Shiv Sena activists and confiscated country made bombs and sickles from them. These sort of things were unheard of in Tamil Nadu politics even a few years back.
While the emboldened Hindutva groups venture into new areas of political battles and thus hope to expand their influence, the DK has been left to fend for itself as no political party is ready to go against the tide of perceived public opinion, when assembly elections are round the corner. The DK is unfazed, because at no point of time in its existence, ever since it was launched by the late Periyar over 75 years ago, has the outfit contested elections, as its main focus of area remains social reforms.
Veeramani reiterates his outfit's stand with these words: “We will never get tired. We respect the court verdict. We will fight it legally and, if need be, go to the Supreme Court and get permission. After all, we are doing the thaali-removal festival for the past eight decades. " These are brave words indeed, but offer no respite to the police as it is aware that the Hindutva outfits are heavily prepared and readying to up the ante as the elections approach.
The battle has certainly been joined, and the first round seems to have gone to the DK, but what remains to be seen is whether it would win the war against the rising Hindutva.
