It was at a press event held for Mani Ratnam’s film Ponniyin Selvan-1, that mediapersons asked actor and politician Kamal Haasan to respond to film director Vetrimaaran’s statements regarding Raja Raja Cholan. Ponniyin Selvan - I is a screen adaptation of Kalki’s historical fiction novel based in the Chola period. “There was no terminology called Hinduism in Raja Raja Cholan’s time. There were Vainavam, Saivam, Samanam (Vaishnavite, Saivite and Jain traditions). Hindu was a name given to us by the British, because they didn’t know what else to call all these. It’s rather like how they changed Thoothukudi to Tuticorin,” Kamal promptly replied. The clip of him talking about Hinduism has been going viral since October 5.
On October 1, director Vetrimaaran, known for hit movies such as Asuran and Vada Chennai had said, “Our identities are being taken from us very quickly, such as dressing Thiruvalluvar’s image in saffron or depicting Raja Raja Cholan as a Hindu king. In cinema, right now, too many identities are being erased. We must save these identities.” The Asuran director was speaking at the 60th birthday celebrations of MP and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi’s (VCK) leader Thol Thirumavalavan. In celebration of his birthday, VCK held a short film and documentary festival under the title ‘Makkal Ezhuchi, Ondru Seru’ (loosely translated as a call for people to ‘Rise and Come Together’).
Kamal, when pressed further to respond to Vetrimaaran’s statement, said, “That (Raja Raja Cholan being a Tamil king) is what I am saying too. We had various religions. In the 8th century, it was Adishankara who brought everything under the concept of Shanmatha Sthapanam, but that is all history. We should not bring that history in here. People are here to praise a historical fiction (Ponniyin Selvan-1). We neither have to fictionalise history nor twist it. We don’t have to bring in language problems either.” The two statements, particularly Kamal’s, led to an outburst of tweets under the hashtag TamilsAreNotHindus, trending at over 48,000 tweets on the day the video of Kamal’s response went viral.
The hashtag and statements have caused a furore among the Hindu right wing and prime time debates being carried out on news channels. Tamilisai Soundararajan, the current Governor of Telangana and Lt Governor of Puducherry also responded on the matter, “There is a fervent discussion going on right now that Tamils are not Hindus, but Tamil Nadu has the most number of temples. Let the identities that are there remain, don’t change those. Let everyone retain their own identities. Attempting to change those identities leads to a clash of ideologies and ends up leading to physical clashes as well,” she said. Tamilisai was also the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Tamil Nadu president from 2014 to 2019 before K Annamalai took over the post. She also added, “Everyone has the right to an opinion and express their opinion in movies. All I’m saying is that one should not think that while they have the right to an opinion, others don’t.”
Hinduism means accepting Sanskrit, brahmanism, varna System, high caste, low caste, manusmirti, vedas, untouchability, subjugation, superiority one over the other & etcetera. We don't want to fall in that category #TamilsAreNotHindus
— narender kumar (@iam_narender) October 5, 2022
HINDU is not a tamil word
— praveen (@praveen63837735) October 5, 2022
and TAMILS are not hindus#TamilsAreNotHindus pic.twitter.com/L1KPLQBMFN
Thirumavalavan too has made a statement today, October 7, on Twitter. “I request the state government to split the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments department and rename them Vainava (Vaishnavite) Religious & Charitable Endowments and Vainava (Vaishnavite) Religious & Charitable Endowments.
மதுரை மாமன்ற உறுப்பினர் தெற்கு மாவட்ட செயலாளர் இன்குலாப் அவர்களின் இல்லத் திருமணத்தை நடத்தி வைத்து மணமக்களை வாழ்த்தினேன். அப்போது அரசுக்கு ஒரு வேண்டுகோள் விடுத்தேன். இந்து சமய அறநிலையத் துறையை
— Thol. Thirumavalavan (@thirumaofficial) October 7, 2022
சைவ சமய அறநிலையத் துறை என்றும் வைணவ சமய அறநிலையத் துறை என்றும் பிரித்திட வேண்டும் (1/2)
Vetrimaaran in the speech that had led to these varying viewpoints had further noted, “Art is inherently political. Tamil Nadu remains a secular state and is still able to resist many external factors. Since cinema is a medium that can reach people with the greatest ease, it is essential to make cinema a political centre-point.”
The director also made a reference to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) route march across 51 locations in Tamil Nadu that was initially slated for October 2, the day marking the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. In protest, VCK and left parties had called for a human chain on the same date. “If we are going to fight for our freedom, we need political clarity. The resistance to the event that was supposed to happen tomorrow (the RSS route march) itself is a great example, in my view,” said Vetrimaaran.
The RSS route march across Tamil Nadu is now scheduled to be held on November 6. Following the spree of violence and arson in the state after the National Investigative Agency’s (NIA) crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), the Tamil Nadu police and the state government had refused permission for the October 2 march. As the RSS had earlier received permission from the Madras High Court, they filed a contempt petition and were granted the new date. Incidentally, Puducherry witnessed an RSS march on October 2. Hundreds of RSS cadres and the BJP Puducherry president V Saminathan participated in the event