Remember Periyar with a pledge to embrace dissent

Source: The post is based on an article “Remember Periyar with a pledge to embrace dissent” published in The Hindu on 17^th September 2022.

Syllabus: GS 1 – important personalities

News: Periyar E.V. Ramasamy’s birth anniversary is on 17^th September. It is celebrated as Social Justice Day.

Periyar is often referred to as an iconoclast because of the rebellious nature of his ideas.

His thoughts had clarity and honesty which led people practicing different faiths to discuss and debate his ideas on rationality and religion.

He had vision for eradiating social evils, political reforms, oppressing the minorities, etc. some of his vision has been discussed in this article.

What were the different visions of Periyar?

Society

He did not only aim at the eradication of social evils but he also wanted to put an end to activities that do not raise the standards of society.

He was one of the pioneering voices against the Kula Kalvi Thittam introduced by the then Chief Minister C. Rajagopalachari.

Kula Kalvi Thittam proposed to impose a method of education on schoolchildren where students would learn their family’s profession as part of the school curriculum.

Periyar felt that it would encourage caste-based divisions that might cause irreparable damage to society.

Reforms

Periyar’s vision was about inclusive growth and freedom of individuals. He was an important personality of his time because of the clarity in his political stand.

Periyar was way ahead of his time. All the reforms he shared with people could not be implemented at the time because his thought led to extreme discussions.

Castes: He felt that there is a need to change the priesthood of all castes if we want to change caste dynamic.

Oppression of minorities: Periyar proclaimed that he would always stand with the oppressed in the fight against oppressors as oppression was his enemy.

Oppositions

People used to oppose his ideas and thoughts but he had a very clear vision on his points.

He said that opposition that is not based on rationalism or science or experience will lead to fraud, selfishness and conspiracies.

Periyar reminds us of welcoming the ideas of oppositions as he used to invite the opposition for the debate.

Therefore, we should create a society with social justice by creating open spaces for oppositions by discussing and debating.