03-28-2005, 02:19 AM
http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE...l+Nadu&Topic=0&
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Third language war only rhetoric
Monday March 28 2005 00:00 IST
CHENNAI: âThe third language warâ has been declared by Tamil nationalists. Only no one seems to take them seriously.
In fact, such was the importance attached to the much vaunted event at Tiruchy, the conference of the Tamil Protection Movement (TPM) that the declaration of the war went virtually unnoticed in newspapers, both English and Tamil.
By the time Dr Ramadoss took the floor to make the announcements, that of defacing English letterings in May and courting arrest statewide in November, it was well past midnight, and the newsdesks, across the spectrum, chose not to wait for the âmomentous declaration.â
It was a well-attended convention, reports say. The movement leaders had arranged long vehicular journeys through the length and breadth of the state and public meetings at many towns during the run-up. Conference decoration, lighting were all on a grand scale. Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Dalit Panthers Movement, the old war horse Nedumaranâs Tamil National Movement and a couple of other splinter groups have joined hands to float this movement. They billed the event as the launch of the third language war. The first one was in the late thirties and the second one in 1965, both against the imposition of Hindi and both of which are seen as watersheds in Tamil history. And, how does this one compare with those two seminal events?
Sessions at the conference on ancient Tamil glory did not attract more than 50-odd faithful. And, most speakers took every care possible to stress that their agitation was peaceful and not directed against anyone. They also refrained from attacking anyone as enemy of Tamils.
Even Jayalalithaa, whom they would fain to denounce as a Brahmin otherwise, they desisted from taking on.
They waxed eloquent on degradation in the Tamil way of life and regretted that Sanskrit has taken over rituals in temples and weddings, but all that they would do to counter the trend is to distribute handbills, from at a safe distance at that.
Of course, though they are all for Tamil in every walk of life, they would not demand, even indirectly, the renaming of the Sun TV, run by the ruling family of the DMK, an ally of the PMK.
Dr Ramadoss, who once revelled in the role of an ardent champion of the Tamil Tigers, withdrew into a shell once he got a footing in the NDA Government. Now that he has a full-fledged Cabinet berth, his own son occupying the slot, he is not going to do anything that could threaten all that comes out of the berth.
DPI leader Thirumavalavan could be said to be playing a tactical game by hitching his star to the Tamil nationalist bandwagon - after all Dalits are still outside the pale of Tamil society and so laying claim to the Tamil legacy could make his community more acceptable to dominant backward castes. And, Ramadoss himself has been attempting to bring together a rainbow coalition, by fits and starts. The coming together of the two would no doubt mean a significant step forward in communal harmony, especially so in the northern districts.
On the other hand, the point is not social implications, but how serious are they about their affirmations on the language front.
The hidden agenda of Ramadoss and Thirumavalavan simply seems to be to rally together their respective constituencies, quite formidable in the northern districts, and demand seats proportionate to their following. Given their perceived base, it would be easy for them to bargain hard with either the DMK or the AIADMK for a âfairâ share of seats in the next yearâs Assembly polls. Even if they choose to go it alone, at the instance of Jayalalithaa, they could spell serious trouble for the DMK-led front. Hence their tactics are unlikely to have any far-reaching impact on Tamil society as the anti-Hindi struggles of the thirties or sixties had, it is generally felt.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Third language war only rhetoric
Monday March 28 2005 00:00 IST
CHENNAI: âThe third language warâ has been declared by Tamil nationalists. Only no one seems to take them seriously.
In fact, such was the importance attached to the much vaunted event at Tiruchy, the conference of the Tamil Protection Movement (TPM) that the declaration of the war went virtually unnoticed in newspapers, both English and Tamil.
By the time Dr Ramadoss took the floor to make the announcements, that of defacing English letterings in May and courting arrest statewide in November, it was well past midnight, and the newsdesks, across the spectrum, chose not to wait for the âmomentous declaration.â
It was a well-attended convention, reports say. The movement leaders had arranged long vehicular journeys through the length and breadth of the state and public meetings at many towns during the run-up. Conference decoration, lighting were all on a grand scale. Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Dalit Panthers Movement, the old war horse Nedumaranâs Tamil National Movement and a couple of other splinter groups have joined hands to float this movement. They billed the event as the launch of the third language war. The first one was in the late thirties and the second one in 1965, both against the imposition of Hindi and both of which are seen as watersheds in Tamil history. And, how does this one compare with those two seminal events?
Sessions at the conference on ancient Tamil glory did not attract more than 50-odd faithful. And, most speakers took every care possible to stress that their agitation was peaceful and not directed against anyone. They also refrained from attacking anyone as enemy of Tamils.
Even Jayalalithaa, whom they would fain to denounce as a Brahmin otherwise, they desisted from taking on.
They waxed eloquent on degradation in the Tamil way of life and regretted that Sanskrit has taken over rituals in temples and weddings, but all that they would do to counter the trend is to distribute handbills, from at a safe distance at that.
Of course, though they are all for Tamil in every walk of life, they would not demand, even indirectly, the renaming of the Sun TV, run by the ruling family of the DMK, an ally of the PMK.
Dr Ramadoss, who once revelled in the role of an ardent champion of the Tamil Tigers, withdrew into a shell once he got a footing in the NDA Government. Now that he has a full-fledged Cabinet berth, his own son occupying the slot, he is not going to do anything that could threaten all that comes out of the berth.
DPI leader Thirumavalavan could be said to be playing a tactical game by hitching his star to the Tamil nationalist bandwagon - after all Dalits are still outside the pale of Tamil society and so laying claim to the Tamil legacy could make his community more acceptable to dominant backward castes. And, Ramadoss himself has been attempting to bring together a rainbow coalition, by fits and starts. The coming together of the two would no doubt mean a significant step forward in communal harmony, especially so in the northern districts.
On the other hand, the point is not social implications, but how serious are they about their affirmations on the language front.
The hidden agenda of Ramadoss and Thirumavalavan simply seems to be to rally together their respective constituencies, quite formidable in the northern districts, and demand seats proportionate to their following. Given their perceived base, it would be easy for them to bargain hard with either the DMK or the AIADMK for a âfairâ share of seats in the next yearâs Assembly polls. Even if they choose to go it alone, at the instance of Jayalalithaa, they could spell serious trouble for the DMK-led front. Hence their tactics are unlikely to have any far-reaching impact on Tamil society as the anti-Hindi struggles of the thirties or sixties had, it is generally felt.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->