Yogendra Yadav: Time Tamil Nadu practised post-Dravidian politics

TRICHY: It was time to practise post-Dravidian politics in Tamil

Nadu

by building upon the fundamental contributions of the Dravidian movement, said founder of the Swaraj India Party, Yogendra Yadav. He was speaking on the sidelines of the first state convention of Swaraj India Tamil Nadu at Karur on Sunday.


Yadav said that very small leaders were taking advantage of the vacuum created by the passing away of J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi, and running the state. Post-Dravidian politics should neither be a simple repetition of Dravidan politics in a meaningless way — which the DMK and AIADMK would want to do — nor a negation of it. Terming nationalism, rationalism and social justice as the three fundamental contributions of the Dravidian movement, he stressed on the need to learn and build upon it. He said that there was a need to redefine each of the three. The nationalism of the Dravidian movement brought about a rethinking of what Indian nationalism was. It made the country more federal and it was time to take it towards decentralisation.

On social justice, he emphasised the need to look not only at the question of caste, but gender and class as well. Otherwise it would degenerate into reservation or caste. In the case of nationalism, it could degenerate into special package politics as seen in Bihar and a few other states. He added that they all practised “straight-forward nationalism which cannot negotiate Indian nationalism.” Yadav said that the great strength of the Dravidian movement was that it forced Indian nationalism to rethink itself.

He asked people to combat the serious threat allegedly posed to secular India by BJP by coming up with a genuine, secular and inclusive politics. Yadav said that it was a tragedy for the country to choose between Modi and Rahul, between BJP and Mahagatbandhan, which was a collection of opportunist forces.

Yadav said that Swaraj India was holding its state convention throughout the country for having completed two years and with a new leadership. Earlier in the day, a 26-point resolution was passed at the convention which demanded rollback of the eight-lane Chennai-Salem expressway apart from registering its protest at the rising fuel prices as well as the national elgibility-cum-entrance test.


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