DMK at the receiving end of a 'culture' it pioneered

One may shrug it off with the question: What is in a name? But naming or renaming of anything -- from a road to a building and from a district to a transport corporation has been a sensitive and thorny issue for governments in Tamil Nadu.

In recent years, the "naming culture" served as a device to derive political mileage and as a means to settle scores with political opponents. But the recent caste clashes in the southern districts, triggered by the naming of a transport corporation after a dalit freedom fighter, have spelled doom for the culture.

In one stroke this week, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has chosen to do away with names of all political and community leaders, after whom most of the districts and transport corporations had been named in the state.

Though most parties hailed the decision as a step towards ushering in a casteless society, it is an irony that the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, which took the lead in introducing the culture, should find itself at the receiving end.

AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha Jayaram has maintained that there is no guarantee that the move would end caste clashes. Moreover, leaders like Periyar E V Ramaswamy Naicker, C N Annadurai, Kamaraj, M G Ramachandran and Rajiv Gandhi could not be identified with any particular caste, she argued.

Tamil Maanila Congress leader G K Moopanar, who mooted the idea at an all-party meeting last month, said it reflected the sentiments of a majority of the people and would reduce social tensions, and help maintain peace and harmony.

Militant Pattali Makkal Katchi leader S Ramadoss, however, faulted the move. He said it was sad that the decision was prompted by the opposition to naming a corporation after Veeran Sundaralinganar, a dalit who served as a lieutenant of freedom fighter Veerapandiya Katta Bomman.

However, though both the DMK and the AIADMK have been using the culture to cultivate vote banks, honouring DMK founder and first Dravidian chief minster Annadurai became a bone of contention between the two. Ironically, both parties drew inspiration from his ideals.

Thus, the DMK opposed the naming of the Dindigul Quaid-e- Milleth district after Annadurai by AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran on the ground that it would be more appropriate to name Chengalpattu district, where the late Anna was born, after him.

The DMK refused to recognise the naming of Dindigul district after Anna. Instead, it referred to Chengalpattu district as Chengai Anna district. No wonder the DMK renamed Chengalpattu after Annadurai soon after it recaptured power in January 1989.

After staging a comeback in May 1996, one of Karunanidhi's early decisions was rechristening a film city and a transport corporation named after his arch rival Jayalalitha. The film city was named after MGR and the transport corporation after Rajiv Gandhi.

The demand for changing the names of places had its origin in the late 1940s, when the rationalist leader and founder leader of the Dravidian movement, Periyar E V Ramaswamy Naicker wanted India to be named after Mahatma Gandhi (as "Gandhiya") soon after his assassination.

The trend gained momentum with the DMK government renaming the arterial Mount Road in Madras after Anna in 1969. Subsequently, city roads were named after Periyar and Kamaraj.

Later on, when districts were bifurcated, it became handy for those in power to name them after community leaders to appease one section or the other.

UNI

EARLIER STORY:
Tamil Nadu drops leaders's names to end caste clashes