'The Dravidian movement was started for the Hindus who were rejected by the upper castes.'
The standoff between the Tamil Nadu government led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government has intensified over the New Education Policy and the proposed delimitation of parliamentary constituencies.
On March 5, the DMK called an all-party conference to oppose the delimitation which it believes will lead to reduced parliamentary seats for southern states which have done economically better than the northern states which will however see a rise in seats thanks to the increase in their population.
"Why are there BIMARU states? What made them BIMARU states? Why are the governments there not encouraging industries in their state?", T K S Elangovan, a former MP who is now the DMK's organising secretary and its spokesperson, asks A Ganesh Nadar in the concluding part of an interview.
- Part 1 of the Interview: 'Don't compel us to study Hindi!'
India has BIMARU states which are weaker than others so those states get more financial help from the Centre but you always make it out to be Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states against non-BJP states. Why?
Why are there BIMARU states?
What made them BIMARU states?
Why does the government there not make them study?
Why are the governments there not encouraging industries in their state?
BIMARU is because of the local government's attitude.
We give good education in Tamil Nadu. We stop school dropouts with the noon meal scheme and now a breakfast scheme. We give free education in all our schools. We make sure our students study.
We have more medical and engineering institutes. We have more number of universities. Our women can get higher education free of cost. We make our students study, read and come up in life.
BIMARU states don't look at the future of their students, the future citizens of their states. What schemes do they have? Nothing!
What do you think of actor Vijay's political entry?
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is one of the first regional parties in the country. We have been in politics since 1949. After 75 years we have been in power, people believe us, our policies are in support of the people. People have benefited from our policies.
We have seen many, many, political parties coming up in these 75 years and so we are not bothered about anybody starting a political party.
We work for the people, we have their confidence. We will survive and come back to power.
Is it true that your ally Thirumavalavan met up with Vijay?
Recently we had a public meeting with all our allies. Thirumavalavan spoke there and he said that his party is with the DMK.
By making Marumalarchi DMK candidates contest elections on your symbol and then sending MDMK leader Vaiko to the Rajya Sabha you effectively destroyed the party. Now you are sending Kamal Haasan to Parliament. Do you consider his Makkal Needhi Maiyam also a threat?
No, there was an agreement with him.
He was campaigning for us in the Parliament elections. He was in our alliance. His party is not a registered political party. He is a lone MP and thus will have more time to participate in the debates there, that is all.
Seeman's Naam Thamizhar Katchi's vote percentage is increasing with every election. In many constituencies his party vote is more than the difference in the votes between you and the All India Anna DMK. Do you look upon him as a potential ally?
What happened in the Erode by-election? His number of votes increased but in percentage terms as compared to the winning candidate has gone down.
So we are not bothered about Seeman. Many senior leaders of Seeman's party are quitting and going to other parties.
The DMK, it is often said, is a one-family party. What is your opinion?
No, this is just an allegation because we had Kalaignar (M Karunanidhi) who led this party, and built this party and kept this party alive for so many years.
Since 1968 when he was 14 years old M K Stalin has been working for the party. He was even arrested under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) and put in jail for one year.
He became an activist of the party. He built the youth wing. He was mayor of Chennai. People like him. As president of the party he is winning all elections. The people's choice is also Stalin.
What we thought is that we need a good leader who can win elections and take the party to the forefront. We think that Stalin is suitable to lead and Udhayanidhi is also working on those lines.
He is also going to the people. He meets people and speaks to the people, he speaks on behalf of the people, and for the welfare of the people. Stalin is our leader now. Udhayanidhi is building the youth wing which will help the party in the future.
They are ready to work for the party and the people. They are ready to go to prison and lead any agitation for the sake of the people. So the DMK has chosen them to lead the party, it is not that they say 'It is their father's party'.
They did not claim the leadership, it is the DMK cadre that has chosen them and second-rung leaders who want them to lead us.
Chief Minister Stalin said Hindi was the mask, Sanskrit the face. Was he trying to link anti-Hindi with anti-Brahmin sentiment, the core of the Dravidian movement?
We are not anti-Brahmin, we are against Manu Dharma. Some 90% of this country are OBCs and SC/STs. We started this party for 90% of the Hindus.
They were not given education, they were not given employment. The Dravidian movement was started for the Hindus who were rejected by the upper castes.
We did not start the party for the Muslims or the Christians. This party was started only for the 90% Hindus. They were rejected as Shudras and scheduled castes. We wanted to uplift them.
The Justice Party was started way back in 1916 to give reservation to these people in education and employment. It started schools for these people and made them study.
Earlier, they were not even allowed to enter the Agraharam areas or in areas where there were temples. They rejected 90% of the Hindus and so we thought these people must be supported.
We worked for those who were being treated like second class people.
We are with them. We have promoted them and now they are well off. They have studied and they are holding positions comparable to their education.
If that is the concept of Brahminism then we are against Brahminism and not Brahmins. There are many Brahmins in our party.
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