News
Rupee to rue: Is Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin rooting for a separate Dravidian nation?
View(s):By Kumar Chellappan
The ruling DMK and its allies have set in motion the process of Tamil Nadu’s secession from the Union of India.
Thursday’s announcement by the state government led by M.K. Stalin that hereafter the symbol of (representing Rupee, the Indian currency) would be replaced by the Tamil letter Ru (the Tamil for Roobai) was an indication that substantiates the doubts that Tamil Nadu is serious about disassociating itself from the union of India and selecting a path of its own, viz., a separate Tamil nation.
Interestingly, the symbol ₹ was designed and developed by Udhayakumar, a Tamil Nadu-born assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in Guwahati, Assam. More than that, Udhayakumar is the son of Dharmalingam, a DMK leader who was a lawmaker in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Stalin had been giving signals of his discontentment with the government led by Narendra Modi at the Centre for quite some time. In 2018, during a meeting at Erode in Tamil Nadu, Stalin openly proclaimed that the DMK’s mission was to establish a separate Dravidian nation. A constitutional amendment that bars those who speak against the Indian Union from contesting the election or casting their votes pushed the DMK to put the demand on the back burner.
K. Thirunavakkarassar, the DMK’s ideologue who is described as the loudspeaker of his master (Stalin), went one step further and declared that the demand for establishing a Dravidian Nation was very much alive in the constitution of the party, and they would raise the issue at the right time.
The last few months saw Stalin and his heir apparent Udhayanidhi calling for the eradication of Hinduism from Tamil Nadu. “Hindus are more dangerous than Covid-19 and AIDS and they should be finished off at the earliest,” declared Stalin Jr., who is the deputy chief minister of the State.
Along with this, Stalin launched a diatribe against Hindi and Sanskrit and declared that there was no space for Hindi in Tamil Nadu. The National Education Policy formulated by the NDA Government at the Centre is being openly described as ‘rubbish’ by Stalin and his DMK. Stalin is against teaching Hindi in the state government-run schools. Tamil Nadu is the only state in India where Hindi is not taught in state schools. But private schools owned by DMK leaders and their families follow the three-language policy that includes the regional language, Hindi, and English.
The 2024 and 2025 logos of Tamil Nadu state financial statement show the shift from the nationally accepted Rs. symbol to Tamil letter Roo symbolising the rupee.
“This is a ploy by the DMK to make Hindi an alien language in Tamil Nadu. This is akin to the strategy followed by the LTTE that fought for a separate Eelam in Sri Lanka. Remember that the DMK and some fringe elements were the only outfits that supported the LTTE in India,” said Ponn Manickavel, former Inspector General of Police (intelligence).
Meanwhile, Stalin has been busy building up “documentary evidence” to justify his demand for the separate Dravidian Nation. He urged the archaeological department of Tamil Nadu to excavate Keeladi, a region in Tamil Nadu, and, citing some artefacts, claimed that there existed a Dravidian nation with its own arts and culture. Archaeological excavations in India come under the direct control of the federal government in New Delhi, but Stalin and the DMK ignored this basic rule and arranged their own experts.
N. Sathyamoorthy, former director of the Archaeological Survey of India, said that no professional archaeologists would approve the claims made by Stalin. “The Keeladi excavation was done as part of manufacturing history as per the whims and fancies of the DMK. These claims will never get any kind of approval from archaeological bodies,” said Sathyamoorthy.
Thol Thirumavalavan, an ally of Stalin and member of parliament, is on record declaring that the North Indians are not welcome in Tamil Nadu. Shekhar Babu, a minister in the DMK government, threatened North Indians living in Tamil Nadu against casting their votes for BJP candidates.
It is alleged that land belonging to Hindu temples, which are under the control of the State government, is being sold off to Islamic groups after inscriptions on the temple walls and pillars have been removed by sandblasting technology. “These inscriptions were made by the then rulers of the region about the ownership of the temple lands and how the income generated through the lands should be used for the well-being of the Hindus,” the late Dr. R. Nagaswamy, who headed the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department for 22 years, had said in a speech. Dr. Nagaswamy was an archaeologist and epigraphist of repute.
Of late, Stalin’s only obsession has been to coronate his son, Udayanithi, as the head of the DMK and elevate him to the post of chief minister. He is guided in this mission by a group of Christian IAS officers. Planting crosses and building mosques on lands owned by Hindu temples is the mission of this cabal, detractors allege.
The Indian National Congress, which ruled Tamil Nadu till 1967, is being used as a doormat by the DMK. The DMK government has not allowed the opening up of Navodaya Schools, a mission mooted by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to make sure that children from poorer sections get a chance to study in public schools. Though the rest of the country has such schools in all districts, Tamil Nadu is the only state in India that does not have any such schools.
Doesn’t it ring alarm bells about the impending secession?
(The writer is the Bureau Chief (South) of Pioneer, New Delhi)
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!