Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi said that successive governments in Tamil Nadu have followed the British colonial policy of divide and rule in the state, and that this was the reason for caste being prevalent in the state even after 77 years of Independence. He said this while speaking at a communal harmony event in Devakottai in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu on Thursday, May 22.
Alluding to long standing tensions between communities in Devakkottai, he said that caste division was a mainstay of the British colonial policy regarding India.
“Nowhere in the country is there such division based on castes and sub castes as we have in our state,” he said. He also alleged that those who talk about social harmony and justice only divide the society, and that those in power (in Tamil Nadu) don't like people’s unity.
“I am told that [communal disharmony] is an old problem, maybe even 400 years old. Mahatma Gandhi tried to reconcile this problem. It has existed since the time of the British. I am not surprised by this because their policy was to divide and rule,” Ravi said.
RN Ravi said that the British had conquered America and Canada by killing off many people using diseases, but India could not be colonised in this manner due to its unity. The Governor also said that temples played an important role in social cohesion and that the British had resorted to weakening temples by taxation in order to divide Indian society.
“When it comes to temples, there is a problem. They openly say that Hindu religion is like dengue, malaria, that Bhakti is unscientific, this is their policy,” Ravi said, referring to a 2023 statement by Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin. " A few things cannot be opposed, but only abolished. We can't oppose dengue, mosquitoes, malaria, or corona. We have to eradicate them. That's how we have to eradicate Sanatana,” the Deputy CM had said.
The Governor claimed that even though India had been split under various princely kingdoms, the society had been extremely connected in the pre-colonial period. “During the national freedom movement, when something happened in one part of the country people protested all over. When the Bengal partition happened Tamil Nadu protested. When Jalianwalla Bagh happened protests happened here too. When Subhash Chandra Bose launched the INA, 5000 young men and women from TN joined it; this was the Indian unity,” he said.
The event was held at Sri Sornamoorthiswarar Temple in Kandadevi village of Devakottai. The temple’s festival had not been held in several owing to long standing tensions between organising factions of four nattars (village councils) that represented192 villages of the area.