To put it in the words of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, it was Sri Rama who united the North and South. The first authentic Ramayana in an Indian language is the ‘Kamban Ramayana’. The ancient grammar used in Tamil is ‘Agattiyam’. This is a work of Agastya. Did sage Agastya not come from the North? Is Subrahmanya Swamy, called Murugan in Tamil, not the son of Shiva and Parvati? Do these hypocrites not know how prominent the worship of Subrahmanya is in the South? Similarly, are they unaware of how sacred the two Jyotirlingas (Srisailam and Rameswaram) are to the people of the South? The same sankalpa (vow) made before Vaishnodevi is also made at Madurai Meenakshi and Kanyakumari. Sand from Rameswaram is taken to Varanasi and offered at Shiva’s feet; Ganga water from Kashi is brought to perform abhishekam to the Shiva at Rameswaram. There are countless devotees who walk barefoot from Pandharpur to Srisailam, and from Varanasi to Rameswaram. Ramuni Nadaka (walk of Rama) in Telugu states, and Ezhuthachan Ramayana in Kerala — all of these belong to all Indians. In Tamil land, the 6th-century Alwars and Nayanmars carried the philosophy of Bhakti to Kannada and Marathi regions! Chola, Pandya, Kakatiya, Satavahana sculptures, Tamil temple architecture, Tamil pasurams, the Dravida Veda, Adi Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhvacharya — has this nation ever forgotten such spirituality? With such deep-rooted similarities in this country, can people bake political breadfests? When such cultural give-and-take binds people together, it is wickedness when leaders build walls of political colour.
Yet, we must not forget that some political forces accustomed to changing colours every day continue to latch onto one thing or the other and move forward. For divisive forces issues like caste, region, religion, and language are always ladders for politics then, now, and likely forever. Politicians make sure people never forget that. The current Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief MK Stalin recently has been describing the country as divided into ‘Northern and Southern parts’. He is angrily invoking ‘Northern dominance’. In one public meeting, he declared: “Should Southern states remain slaves? Should Northern states act like masters? The Northerners are cheating our Southern people. As punishment for reducing childbirths (population control), they are reducing our Parliament seats!” Stalin did not say this casually. It is part of the ideology scripted by the ‘scriptwriters’ behind him.
As part of Macaulay’s evangelical and British-loyalist poisonous education policy, our country became a victim of the fabricated Aryan-Dravidian theory. The British concocted the theory that Aryans came from Central Asia via the Khyber Pass, ruled over the Dravidians, and imposed their culture on the locals. For the past 60 years, this false theory has been widely spread by the local ‘pseudo-intellectual class’. In reality, the word ‘Arya’ means ‘noble’. That is why even today in Tamil Nadu, ‘Arya’ has become ‘Ayyangar’, and in Telugu ‘Ayya’. Every name once began with ‘Ayya’. Sita addressed Rama as ‘Arya Putra’. Draupadi referred to herself many times as ‘Arya Putri’. The Pandavas, and even Ravanasura, were addressed as ‘Arya Putra’. Recently, scientific research was conducted on Aryan-Dravidian theories at Cambridge and Houston Universities. After examining the DNA of Indians across regions, it was concluded that all have the same kind of DNA. Genetic scientists, after a scientific study of racial divisions based on DNA, have confirmed that there is no basis (‘pasa’) to it.
The entire Dravidian movement, orchestrated by the British-supported Justice Party in Tamil Nadu, was essentially aimed at dissecting the culturally diverse society — turning natural differences into deep divisions, and weaponizing them politically to hinder the seamless integration of the people, especially those from Hindi-speaking northern states, with Tamil Nadu (then the Madras Presidency).
The word ‘Dravida’ means ‘the land between three seas’. Well-known researcher Dr. Subramanian Swamy stated that it was Adi Shankara who first used this term. In Sivananda Lahari, the word ‘Dramila’ appears. This ‘Dramila’ later transformed into the word ‘Tamil’. Adi Shankara represented Vedic dharma, while Mandan Mishra stood for Buddhism. Mandan Mishra’s wife Ubhaya Bharati served as the judge in their philosophical debate. When she asked Adi Shankara, “Who are you?”, he reportedly replied: “I am a Dravida child!”
The word Dravida is itself a Sanskrit word. Today, this word and theory have lost relevance. “That Aryans attacked and conquered India is a fabricated myth. Only if we say that Aryans came, attacked, and conquered the natives can Aryan supremacy be proved. That is why Western writers concocted such stories,” wrote Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in his works and speeches (Vol. 73, 74).
Ultimately, the Aryan-Dravidian theory turned into a huge political drama. In 1944, Periyar Ramasamy sent aged Justice Party leader Panneer Selvam to England to petition the British for a separate Dravidistan. But since Selvam died in a plane crash while travelling secretly, the plan failed. This was written by Communist leader Mohan Kumaramangalam. Later, in 1947, even after the British left the entire country, Periyar demanded that they not leave Tamil Nadu. In 1955, he turned the anti-Hindi movement into an anti-national agitation. In 1957, 10,000 Periyar followers burnt copies of the Indian Constitution. In 1960, Periyar burnt a map of India. All this was the fallout of the so-called Dravidian movement. In recent times, after a nationalist government came to power at the Centre, new conspiracies began to weaken and discredit it. During the Kudankulam nuclear project issue, some NGOs indulged in anti-India activities — even the then UPA government had to reluctantly admit this.
Now, current political developments in Tamil Nadu are being projected onto the Centre. After Jayalalithaa’s demise, self-serving political chaos is being spun to blame PM Modi and HM Amit Shah. A certain section of the media and intellectuals is pushing this narrative. The Stalin family, drowning in corruption, is trying to provoke emotions. Since Udhayanidhi Stalin’s comment “We will eradicate Sanatana Dharma” backfired, they’ve shifted to anti-Hindi rhetoric and debates around delimitation.
When attempts were made to trigger a ‘Jallikattu-like’ movement against the Modi government, the Centre handled it cleverly and escaped. Later, some media houses, political parties, and known activist intellectuals in both Telugu states started a conspiracy to ignite a North-South divide to block BJP’s growth. When Pawan Kalyan and Y.S. Jagan tried to launch a ‘Jallikattu-style’ agitation on the Visakhapatnam beach in the name of Special Status, they failed miserably.
In the recent past, some pseudo-intellectuals even dragged in U.S. President Trump and his remarks on diverse cultures and races, drawing parallels with Modi’s nationalism through opinion columns and televised debates. Behind all this is an invisible grand conspiracy. Its physical form is the attempt to build walls in the name of ‘North India-South India’ politics. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge played a key role in creating disruption in Parliament on this issue and let go of many facts in the wind.
They forgot how Congress’ family rulers had humiliated Southern leaders in the past. PV Narasimha Rao, the only Telugu Prime Minister who worked to bring financial reforms — why was his mortal body not even allowed inside the Congress HQ in Delhi and instead shifted to Hyderabad? Does Kharge not know? Do they forget how former Telangana CM T. Anjaiah was humiliated by Congress’ Delhi leadership — and how NTR entered politics and built the Telugu Desam Party on that very foundation? Even if the North-South divide wasn’t visible on the surface, the Congress internally practised the same culture — do these leaders not know?
This is the plain truth. In an age where the world is becoming a global village, peddling North-South divisions is nothing but a shallow, cooked-up narrative — a desperate stunt in politics with zero real gain.
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