[Answered] Discuss the significance of the Vaikom satyagraha and the self respect movement in the modern indian history.

The contribution of Ramaswamy Periyar in introducing social reforms in has been enormous and his legacy is still alive today in India. Vaikom Satyagraha and Self-respect movement was significant and played an important role in removing barriers in Indian Society.

Vaikom satyagraha:

1. It was a mass movement that demanded lower caste persons to be given the right to use a public path in front of the famous Vaikom temple.
2. It managed to open the roads around the temple for their use. The temple entry movement gained momentum after this.
3. It was the first mass agitation for the cause of human rights in the country.
4. The Vaikom Satyagraha was a testing ground for the Gandhian principles of Satyagraha. It was tested and proved as the most effective means for the first time.
5. It was a great opportunity for the Indian National Congress party to grow in Kerala.

Self respect movement:

1. The Self-Respect Movement was dedicated to the goal of giving non-Brahmins a sense of pride based on their Dravidian past which also meant denial of the superiority of the Brahmins whom he described as representative of the Aryans.
2. Its aim was to achieve a society where backward castes have equal human rights, and encouraging backward castes to have self-respect in the context of a caste-based society that considered them to be a lower end of the hierarchy.
3. Unlike the Justice Party, the Self-Respect Movement was popular in its appeal. Though it began as a social reform movement its effects were felt in the political field also.
4. Anti-Brahmanism and Self-respect Marriages were two important aspects of Self-respect Movement.
5. The movement encouraged inter-caste and inter-religious marriages, along with that it also encouraged marriage ceremonies without Brahmin priest.
6. Post independence, Tamilnadu passed a law and become the first state to legalise Hindu marriage without Brahmin priest.
7. The monopoly of power and influence enjoyed by the Brahmins was slowly lost due to E.V.R.’s unceasing propaganda against orthodoxy. It filled with the sense of self-respect and above all self-confidence, to fight against social injustice perpetrated by the Brahmins of the day.
8. The practice of having separate dining places for Brahmins in every hotel or earmarking separate eating places in public feasts was slowly given up owing to the agitation of the volunteers of the movement.
9. It was largely responsible for making an effective change in the social life of the vast majority of people through its ceaseless propaganda against superstitious beliefs, based upon religious traditions.
10. It was instrumental in non-Brahmin communities of Tamil Nadu to create awareness amongst themselves, as one community. The Self-Respect movement brought the message of the Tamil Nationalism to the masses.
11. Gender relationships were actively divorced from Brahminical patriarchy and women’s rights over their physical, sexual and reproductive choices were celebrated.

Self-Respect Movement was not a mere social reformist movement. It aimed at destroying

the existing Hindu social order in its totality and creating a new, rational society without caste, religion and God. The movement was extremely influential not just in Tamil Nadu, but also overseas in countries with large Tamil populations, such as Malaysia and Singapore.