Hitting out at the Dravidian movement just days after a Dalit man was hacked to death for marrying an OBC girl, BJP National Secretary H Raja has called social reformer and founder of Dravidar Kazhagam, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, "anti-Dalit''.
He claimed that Periyar had opposed the entry of Dalits into the temples, and that he had said the price of textiles had gone up after the Dalit women started wearing blouses.
“There is proof of this. Ambedkar Makkal Iyakkam had condemned the statements and published it in their monthly magazine too. From the beginning, Periyar had an anti-Dalit mindset,” he said, according to Deccan Chronicle.
He added, “It can be seen from the fact that social reformation in the state stopped with the anti-Brahmin movement. That’s why mere statements were issued for atrocities committed against Dalits rather than initiating any concrete measures."
Talking about Hindutva ideology, he said that from the pre-independence era, it has always stood for equality of all castes.
Responding to H Raja’s comments, Periyar loyalists called it as a “distortion of facts.”
Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam general secretary Viduthalai Rajendran told Deccan Chronicle that Periyar was working towards making people of all castes including Dalits to become temple priests, instead of stopping them from going to temples. He also added that due to Periyar’s campaign, the DMK government had passed a resolution to end hereditary appointment of priests in temples and allow people of all castes to take up that role.