Chanakya Policy & Research Foundation

He was deeply inspired from the motives of Indian National Congress and decided to join it in 1919, he even aimed to contribute to the non- cooperation movement and was even made secretary of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, but the internal differences in the party made him to dine apart from his upper-class Brahmin friends at the local college. Soon he had to leave INC in 1925 for the underlying injustice to which no one responded. Later in 1926, he founded the Self-Respect Movement focusing on eradicating caste discrimination and promoting self-respect among lower castes. He also championed women’s rights and criticized patriarchal practices. He even stood up for the widow remarriage and education to women and proper communal representation to give equal opportunity to every social strata, but this demand was denied to him. To emphasize more on the year 1938 he joined the South Indian Libertarian Federation (Justice Party) to oppose the Brahmins’ dominance in socio-political aspects. Later he seceded from Justice Party because of the influence of the Vellalas and Mundaliyars and formed Dravidar Kazhagam in 1944 advocating for an independent Tamil Nadu state because he progressed for Tamil Nadu-centric policies rather than India-centric policies.

 In 1948, his drean of a separate Dravida Nadu already in shambles, he queried, “Is the brahmin’ s rule swaraja for the Parayan [untouchiable]? Is the cat’ s rule swarajya for the rat? [Is” landlord’s rule [swarajya] for the peasant? Is owner’s rule swarajya for the worker?…”(Vidyuthalai, 1974) . He argued that India was not a nation but a mere museum of castes, religions, languages and gods (Arasu, 1974) . Periyar, however, could prefigure what electoral politics would mean for his social reform movement and was not invested in convincing or keeping his young followers with him. (Swarnavel, 2017). In the same year, he was awarded with title “Periyar” by the Tamil Nadu Women Conference held in Madras, from that day he advocated for the removal of the surname or the caste from the name in order to remove this social fallacy. Periyar was a firebrand champion of human dignity, he was a relentless fighter for what he professed. (Chauhan,2005). This idea of him was much enlightened in the form that it empowers an individual and advocates a sense of individuality enabling them to work more on themselves rather than serving the upper class. Periyar advocated for the marginalized communities to assert their own identity and reject the oppressive systems that kept them marginalized. He believed that by embracing their own selfrespect, the marginalized communities could challenge the social hierarchies and demand equal rights and dignity. He gave a strong sense of rationality and advocated for atheism because according to him god is superficial and practicality could not be justiciable instead a person should progress on faculty of reason and objectives rather than praising idols. His communist mindset made him to frequently visit the Soviet Union because of his inclination towards their liberal and state-led policies that advocated for equal treatment of everyone and the upliftment of the marginalized. On the contrary, he found the Indian system biased because of the INC and instances by Gandhi where he favored the Varnashram system. 

Him giving up his surname “Naicker”, depicts his strong aggression towards the Varnashrama system, to which he implies that the caste is poison and is slowly contaminating and degrading the healthy working society. The subversive acts aimed at challenging the status quo of a highly conservative, religious, and casteist society through his championing the cause of suyamariyathai—”self-respect” for historically discriminated castes or jathigal (Swarnavel, 2017). To understand this implication in the globalized contemporary India, more focus is to be required towards the working mechanism of the system. Many believed that the Varnashrama system divides the society into Four classes- Brahmins (including the priests), Kshatriya (the Warrior group or protecting class) Vaishyas (the trading class), Shudras (the artisans). But over the time many interpretations led to the tormentation of the idea behind this functionality of system causing the supremacy of Brahmins and the act of servitude by others, hence the exploitation and human right violation sometimes. The same thing happened in the south of India as the dominance of Aryans (the Brahmins) leading to exploit the Dravidians in many ways like; banning the entry inside the temple, the devadasi tradition, political interruption, and many more. But the rationale behind Periyar’s thinking was that, if a person stops putting his surname or removes the concept of surname will help in creating a just society. To put into example, if in a group of 100 orthodox caste-based people judgers, 70 people remove the caste from their name and started to living together, the chance of those 70 people facing will be negligible (the data published by NCRB is 13000 per 50000). But the implications always found their way into the solutions, the practicality may be difficult to assess because of spurge in the idea of self-dominance, leads a person to act inhumane in order to preserve his hegemony in the society (which has been assumed negatively). Many instances shows the increasing rate in discrimination just because of caste, but people tend to stick with the old-rotten ideas. This symbolic gesture can contribute to challenging the social norms and practices that perpetuate caste discrimination. It requires comprehensive efforts to address issues of social and economic inequality, education, and representation, and dismantling the structural barriers that perpetuate caste discrimination. One of the possible outcome is anonymity in the application of jobs, enrolment in educational institutions, participation in civic affairs; so that the concept of affirmative action won’t be in regard or in use, the deserving candidate will get the chance irrespective of their privilege but with respect to their calibre. With the understanding of discrimination at the playing ground, some children might not be allowed to play in certain areas or to take water from the public wells, the amount of exploitation will reduce. Additionally, removing caste from names may not address the systemic discrimination and prejudice that individuals face based on their economic background as well. It is important to also consider the social, economic, and political factors that contribute to caste-based discrimination and strive for holistic change that tackles these underlying issues as well. By removing caste from their names, individuals may be able to challenge the preconceived notions and biases associated with caste. Anyhow, it is crucial to recognize that caste-based discrimination is deeply embedded in various aspects of society, including education, employment, housing, and marriage practices; but with the inculcation of proper education and series of transformations will help in achieving the dream society of Periyar.