Dravidian ‘Irrationalism’: Senior DMK MP Compares Tamil TV Media To ‘Brothels’, Calls Judicial Appointments Of Dalits ‘Party’s Alms’

With the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) coming under media's scrutiny for signing up political strategist Prashant Kishor, the party’s leaders, especially seniors, are slipping up — making disparaging remarks against the judiciary, people from North India and the media.

DMK organising secretary and Rajya Sabha member R S Bharathi has in particular made uncharitable remarks against judges belonging to the Scheduled Caste community, besides terming people from North India as “fools”.

Taking part in a party’s Kalaignar (the late M Karunanidhi) Reading Circle, the senior DMK leader started off by attacking senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader H Raja, calling him a “poriki” (loafer) and then a “Brahmin dog”.

“Had I not held a position in the party, I would have become a terrorist to take on these people (those criticising the Dravidian movement),” Bharathi declares, adding that the present-day youth are not aware that Tamil Nadu was among the top states due the contribution of the Dravidian movement.

“People in other states are fools. Particularly, North India they are all fools,” said the DMK MP.

“Not a single Harijan has become a judge in Madhya Pradesh till this day. It was Kalaignar (the late Karunanidhi) who first made an Adi Dravida (a Scheduled Caste in Tamil Nadu), Varadharajan, a judge after he came to power.

“After that, if seven or eight from the community have become judges, it is because of the alms (pitchai) doled out by the DMK,” Bharathi said.

He then went on to make more disparaging remarks on the Supreme Court. “Ava (Brahmins) have come back. I say with heartburn that the Supreme Court has become an RSS camp. I am an advocate, but this is my grievance,” the DMK MP said.

Stating that a revolution would have taken place had Karunanidhi been alive, Bharathi says “Periyar (E V Ramasamy), Anna (C N Annadurai) and Kalaignar are needed again today.”

Then, he added: “If DMK men were not to go to temples, even the priests there won’t get income. Half the people in this gathering sport the vermilion tilak or the ash mark. Even in my hand, I have a thread tied. We are being forced to tell these because we are portrayed as opponents of Hindus”.

“Priests are surviving on the money (dakshina) we give. It is being portrayed as if we are against Hinduism.”

He then turned his, and probably his party’s, ire on the media. “The press guys don’t have any job. They don’t write anything when others do something. When (Arvind) Kerjiwal hired Prashant Kishor, they didn’t write about it. Narendra Modi used it, they didn’t write. Many others used him, no one wrote. But when he (Kishor) came to DMK in Tamil Nadu, they are talking out of jealousy,” the senior DMK leader said.

“They have a debate on this. These television guys are scoundrels. No one is as corrupt as them. They are running the channels like the red light area in Mumbai. Just because they are getting money, they raise anything (issue).”

“If Thalapathi’s (DMK President M K Stalin) wife goes to a temple, they have a discussion on that. Is this the most important issue in Tamil Nadu?” he rounded up his speech, saying.

Bharathi’s comments are seen as the DMK’s impatience in withstanding the criticism against it, especially after the party decided to hire Kishor. On social media, the party has been ridiculed for hiring a “Brahmin”, particularly when the Dravidian movement had been built on anti-Brahminism.

Some criticis have listed out how from the late C Rajagopalachari till Kishore, the DMK had banked on Brahmins to make headway in the State.

The DMK has increasingly come under scrutiny after the May 2019 Lok Sabha elections in which it won all but one of the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu. With Tamil film actor Rajinikanth making his intentions clear of entering politics and calling the DMK’s bluff on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, besides recalling the 1971 anti-Hindu rally of “Periyar” E V Ramasamy, the Tamil Nadu Opposition party is under pressure.

“Earlier, whenever a media house used to criticise the DMK, it would go back to the party again to make peace. But now, some of the media houses, especially ones with good following, are criticising the party but aren’t going back to it. This has unnerved the DMK and probably, reflected in Bharathi’s speech,” said a political worker.