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Of seminal importance for the followers of Dravidian ideology, Vaikom in Kottayam, Kerala, saw the first organised temple entry movement for Dalits in 1924 as people from the oppressed castes launched the satyagraha to make public roads leading to the Sri Mahadeva temple in Vaikom accessible to all sections of society.
Among those who were an integral part of the satyagraha were social reformer E V Ramasamy, popularly referred to as “Periyar”, who founded the Self-Respect Movement in the then Madras Presidency. Periyar and his wife Nagamma spent time in prison in connection with the movement. With entry to the paths leading to the temple paths restricted to dominant-caste Hindus, in March 1924 the Kerala Congress Committee called for a walk through the restricted paths, leading to the arrest of several of its leaders. It was only in 1936, 11 years later, that the oppressed castes were allowed entry into the temple.
On December 12, marking the centenary of his historical link between the two states, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan met in Vaikom to inaugurate an inter-state collaborative project on social justice: a renovated Thanthai Periyar Memorial and Periyar Library.
In 2023, marking the commencement of the Vaikom Satyagraha’s centenary celebrations, Stalin said, “It was through this movement that E V Ramasamy emerged as Periyar”. Periyar means the respected or great one.
Periyar entered the Vaikom Satyagraha at a time when most of its leaders were arrested, according to author Pazha Athiyaman. “The Congress asked for Periyar’s support when many of its leaders in Kerala were arrested. Periyar was a prominent Congress leader from Tamil Nadu,” he said, adding that even then Periyar was known for his anti-caste politics and seen as a mass leader. Athiyaman’s book Vaikom Porattom (Vaikom Struggle) details Periyar’s contribution to the satyagraha.
According to Athiyaman, Periyar made several trips to Vaikom and was arrested more than once during the struggle. “He spent 67 days participating in the struggle and 74 days in prison for being arrested on account of the struggle,” Athiyaman said. In his book, he writes that Periyar was first arrested when his campaign gained traction. On May 22, 1924, he was sentenced to simple imprisonment for one month, which he served in Arookutty prison. When he was let off, he returned to the struggle, leading to his arrest and a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for three months. Periyar was relentless in pursuing the struggle that he was called “Vaikom Veerar”, or the ‘hero of Vaikom. “It is only apt that two Chief Ministers came together to remember Thanthai Periyar,” said Athiyaman.
According to DMK leaders, the commemoration of Periyar by Stalin and Vijayan has marked a new chapter in southern politics. It has come at a time when the southern states are attempting to band together over common concerns linked to delimitation, demographic changes, and tax devolution.
“Here is a DMK chief minister collaborating with an alliance partner in INDIA, CPI(M)’s Pinarayi Vijayan. It sent the message that both the parties, and the INDIA bloc on the whole, are committed to social justice,” said Madhimaran, a DMK leader who recently visited Vaikom to commemorate the satyagraha.
The Congress, the major alliance partner in the INDIA bloc, also worked the social justice line leading up to the Lok Sabha elections. The party and the INDIA bloc have also been demanding a country-wide caste census.
In their politics, however, both Stalin and Vijayan are candid that they are not against religion, the way Periyar was. DMK and CPI(M) leaders have time and again said that many of their cadre are believers and that they do not discourage anyone from practising religion. “Periyar was very clear about the right to temple entry being a right to enter a public place. So, there is a statement they (the two parties and their CMs) wish to make about temples and worship, not pitting themselves as non-believers or agonistics, but as people who are bent on claiming public spaces,” said author and academic V Geetha.
The two leaders, however, have been vociferous critics of the BJP’s Hindutva politics. “We want to say again and again that the BJP is against welfare politics and that the party is against social justice inscribed in the Constitution and the thoughts of Periyar. In coming together, on social justice grounds, we have sent a message to the Centre that we are together in such fights for justice,” said Madhimaran.
Stalin has consistently said welfare measures cannot be called “revdi”, or freebies, as the BJP does. “The message they are giving out is that there is a very large scope for politics based on social justice movement in the southern states,” Madhimaran said.
In 2022, the Tamil Nadu CM and DMK leader launched an “All India Social Justice Forum” to unite the Opposition around the message of social justice and the event in Vaikom last year marked Stalin’s outreach to Vijayan. “We share the same soul even if we are physically two,” he told his Kerala counterpart at the time, peppering his speech with Malayalam, which he called “a language that belongs to the Dravidian family”.
Stalin said the Vaikom Satyagraha was “not only about Kerala but also benefited Tamil Nadu and India as a whole as a social justice movement”. “Self-respect, rationality, socialism, equality, humanism, non-discrimination on the basis of blood and gender, women empowerment, social justice, scientific temper, and secularism were the ideals that Periyar stood for,” he said.
