Indian politics is considered not only overpopulated in terms of parties but also diverse in terms of magnitude.The history of the Indian civilization has always obscured the geography of the sub continent as a whole.But there is an exception-the Dravidian asmita of cultural superiority.The Cholas ruled a major portion of South India for not a time too short.
The South Indian Vs North Indian debate exceeds the despondency between Complan and Horlicks.Vidya Balan in India’s Most Desirable hosted by Simmy Garewal said
“..we South Indians would complete our holi early in the morning unlike the North Indians….”
Perhaps this ‘small’ anecdote is ‘large’ enough to further harvest a variation which affects regionally. The Madras Presidency was one of the three major presidencies the British affiliated from the natives.Pondicherry,not far away provided a cucoon for the French. This Deccan rivalry patronised the three Carnatic Wars.
Times have changed.Rational people neither consume unprotected sex nor do they share Mamata Banerjee’s cartoons via email.On a concordant note,bloody battles of the past now have insulated the role of political rivalry.The Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam emerged as the undaunted protector of Dravidian Civilisation in post Independent India.
C.N Annadurai and his DMK proliferated their demand for a separate Dravian state which basically eased the path for the advocacy of Dravidian freedom.The Congress was the party of dominance which was also uphelding power of the Union.The DMK faced a ban on the basis of charges of sedition.In the 1960s the ban was lifted as DMK was sworn to power in Tamil Nadu.
Gandhi applauded the role of Tamils like Thambi Naidoo in the Indian struggle for greater rights in South Africa.But the rich racist demagogue which Kumar Vishwas vomitted on Kerala nurses is not the only reason for Southern insularity.
History shows the overall progress of South India is better than the rest of the country. Kerala’s progress in literacy rates and age sex ratio is better than that of China on many counts.But factually on the contrary, only two South Indians till today has made it for the race of chief executive.They are PV Narsimha Rao and HD Deve Gowda.
Well is Dravidian aparatheid or self seclusion-which one makes the more convincing argument? Well with 57% of the PMs coming from a single state,specific regional aparetheid is out of question.Perhaps unlike the Hindu and Dhosa no other thing of the south has ever been of much of an appetite for North Indian politicians.
The wall called Rahul Dravid,though a Marathi by lineage exhibits that Dravidian aggression of self defence-the precursor of which was shown by Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan.The culture of the south cannot be considered just a traditional version of insularity.It also has to do with the general notion of regional political parties dominating the circumference of power.
Dravidian seclusion is an expired thought. The civilisation which gave us Narayan Guru and The Tirupathi pilgrimage can never be compared to the idea of insularity.But just like superstars of cinema have emerged as the heroes of the political dispensation eg: NT Rama Rao and MG Ramachandran-this does not give it an insulated outlook.Rather it shows the distinctiveness of many cutures-which provides the real jewel for sub continental diversity. The Dravidian ethos rolls on….
The Dravidian ethos…
