Not a day goes by for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and his coterie of ministers without uttering the word ‘Dravida Model’.
Mettur Dam saw good inflow because of Dravida Model.
Praggnanandhaa beat Magnus Carlsen because of Dravida Model.
The earth is rotating because of Dravida Model.
People are breathing because of Dravida Model.
Dravida Model, Dravida Model, Dravida Model!
This sticker of ‘Dravida Model’ is being pasted on anything and everything under the sun.
So, what is this ‘Dravida Model’?
The Dravidian Stockists peddle that the Dravida Model is the anti-dote to ‘communalism’ and ‘fascism’. But recent activities of the DMK government negate these claims.
To understand the reality of the Dravida Model, let us analyze one aspect of it – the Dravida Model of Free Speech.
Case 1
On May 29 2022, rabid anti-Hindu fringe outfits like Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam (DVK), Thol Thirumavalavan’s Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Popular Front of India, Communists, and other “Periyar”-ist organizations had organized a ‘mega-rally’ under the name of “Periyariya Unarvalargal Kottamaippu” in Madurai.
In the rally, members belonging to the DVK led by the outfit’s Namakkal district head raised slogans abusing Hindu Gods and Hindus.
“That Maari (Goddess Amman) who asks for a sacrifice of goats and pigs a God? Is Kannan (Lord Krishna), who raped woman, a God? Will a child be born if a man and man have sex? Is calling Ayyappan a God rational?” the men clad in red shirts can be heard shouting.
No action was reported to be taken against these elements. The Dravidian Stockist media, too, looked the other way.
Case 2
On April 26, a rabid anti-Hindu YouTube channel named U2 Brutus released a video titled “This is the reason why Nataraja stands with his leg lifted“, in which a person who identifies himself as ‘Minor’ resorts to slandering Hindu God Siva and Goddess Kaali.
In the video, Minor says, “This guy Paramasivan.. what he did was.. Only on going further, we come to know the nefarious activities of his.. He keeps lifting his leg up and up and finally lifted it fully and straight… If you think stretching the leg was a good movement… I too thought so on reading about it but that is where the trick was.. The thing is ‘Thalaivan’ (referring to Lord Siva) did not wear underwear that day. Don’t laugh.. Seriously, that is what is written.. Thalaivan had gone without wearing underwear voluntarily. What will happen if someone lifts the leg up? ‘It’ (referring to penis) will fall out right? I’m not joking. That is how it is written. Once you lift your leg, it will be visible right? On seeing that, the people were shocked. Thillai Kaali, who was dancing, got shocked after seeing it. How can she dance after that? After seeing it, she didn’t know what to do and forgot all her dance movements.”
This ‘Minor’ was felicitated and given an idol of E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (known as Periyar by his followers) by Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma. Subramanian at an event held in April 2022.
U2 Brutus has put several videos slandering Hindus and the Hindu faith. Earlier in November 2021, the channel released a video titled “Pornography in Vedas”, in which ‘Minor’ and an alleged Saivite scholar named Prakash derogate the Vedas, the holy scripture of the Hindus. No action has been taken against ‘Minor’ to date despite multiple complaints registered against him by Hindu outfits like Indu Makkal Katchi, Hindu Munnani and Sivachariyars.
Case 3
Surendar Natarajan alias ‘Naathigan’ of Karuppar Koottam YouTube channel, who was arrested for putting abusive and vulgar videos of Hindu Gods and released weeks after DMK came to power, justified his abuses against Lord Murugan and added that he would continue to speak against Hindu Puranas and Gods through his new YouTube channel.
No action has been taken on him.
Case 4
Dr K Kantharaj, a Dravidian-demagogue doctor who appears on several YouTube channels, spewed venom and made genocidal remarks against the Tamil Brahmin community.
He also derogated Hindu Gods like Lord Ram and Lord Krishna and made scandalous remarks on April 1, being marked as Tamil New Year.
“The 60 years have been named after children born out of homosexual relationship between Naradar and Vishnu. If you celebrate April 1 as Tamil New Year, you are celebrating homosexual new year not Tamil New Year.”, the Dravidianist doctor had said.
No action has been taken against him.
Despite the brazen communal vitriol spewed by these anti-social elements, the DMK government and the Dravidian Stockist media have given them a free pass.
On the other hand, the DMK government has been cracking down on its critics.
Case 5
Immediately after the DMK came to power, political commentator Kishore K Swamy was arrested on June 14, 2021, for allegedly ‘defaming’ DMK leaders MK Stalin, Karunanidhi and Annadurai. The arrest was made based on a complaint by a Kanchipuram DMK functionary.
Kishore K Swamy, in his tweet, had just quoted parts of writing by Tamil poet Bharathidasan who had written about Annadurai, saying that Annadurai took his niece to a wealthy man’s house to earn money.
Kishore K Swamy had also made several posts criticizing MK Stalin and his father, M. Karunanidhi.
For this ‘heinous’ crime of criticizing DMK leaders, he was incarcerated and slapped with the Goondas Act languishing in prison for around six months.
However, the Madras High Court in December 2021 quashed the Goondas Act against Kishore, following which he was released from prison.
Case 6
In another similar case, Kalyanaraman of BJP Tamil Nadu was arrested for allegedly derogating Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and his late father, Karunanidhi.
Kalyanaraman had, in a tweet, posted a picture of a page from a book that talks about V. Anaimuthu’s comments on EVR’S wife Maniammai, quoting from another book titled “Periyar Kolgaiku Kuzhithondiya Dravidar Kazhagam” (Dravidar Kazhagam, the one which buried Periyar’s principles).
In this, Anaimuthu sheds light on the relationship shared by Maniammai and K. Veeramani, the current head of Dravidar Kazhagam.
Kalyanaraman, in his tweet, had said, “These are the words of Anaimuthu who travelled with EVR and documented them later… Will they be arrested now for telling the truth ?”
In response to this tweet, a person on Twitter had said that EVR fought for women’s liberation. Responding to this, Kalyanaraman said, “So, you mean to say he [EVR] visited brothels to liberate them? Then our Chief Minister MK Stalin’ father Karunanidhi must have also visited the Royapuram brothel for the same. Kannadasan must have wrongly mentioned in his book Vanavaasam“.
Kalyanaraman, too was slapped with the Goondas Act.
Case 7
Popular Youtuber Maridhas was arrested on December 9, 2021, for a tweet that came in the light of the death of late Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat. This arrest, too, was made based on a complaint by a DMK functionary.
Days later, the DMK government once again received a knock on its head when the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court quashed the FIRs registered against Maridhas. But, the matter did not end there.
The DMK government once again arrested Maridhas for a video that was released during the first wave of the COVID-19 in which the YouTuber spoke about how the returnees of the Tablighi Jamaat meeting refused to cooperate with government officials and were spreading the coronavirus.
This FIR, too, was quashed by the Madras High Court.
Case 8
BJP IT wing office-bearer Saravana Kumar from Dindigul was arrested for allegedly criticizing the DMK government.
He had responded to a DMK executive on social media who had made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for which he was arrested and later released on bail following a protest by BJP cadres.
Case 9
Dakshinamurthy alias Seethaiyin Mainthan, a YouTuber and a Tamil nationalist ideologue, was arrested on October 15, 2021, for releasing a documentary that exposed the lesser-known and hidden facts about EV Ramasamy Naicker, also known as ‘Periyar’ by his followers.
The two-part documentary bases most of its evidence on the book titled “Tamizhar Thalaivar”, written by Samy Chidambaranar, who wrote the book under the supervision of EVR himself and was published in the year 1939.
Seethayin Mainthan quotes several instances from the book establishing that EVR was a heavy drunkard and a pimp.
Case 10
An FIR was filed against Tamil magazine Vikatan, YouTuber Maridhas and political commentator ‘Savukku’ Shankar for speaking against G Square Realtors, a real estate company reportedly close to the DMK family.
There are several such instances where the DMK government has gone after its critics. Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami slammed the DMK government in July 2021 when cases were registered against News J, a TV channel of the AIADMK party, and members of the party’s IT wing.
Hence, Karthik Gopinath’s arrest should come as no surprise as he has been going after the DMK hammer and tongs on his YouTube channel Ilaya Bharatham. At the same time, Karthik could’ve been more careful in terms of disclosure as it involves people’s money. Those in the ruling regime just need a misstep to pounce upon.
From the above instances, it becomes clear what the Dravidian Model of ‘Free Speech’ is – crackdown on critics and giving a free pass to anti-Hindu elements.
Source: The Commune
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