Hello World,
If you live in Tamilnadu and/or understand/speak Tamil, then you are bound to have come across this Tamilan vs. Dravidan debate at some point in time (by now at least). If you speak Tamil natively, then you must be facing this debate irrespective of your political orientation and/or awareness in this regard.
If you are looking to understand the basis on which such ideologies can be assessed for further decision on choosing them as something you might back with your vote and/or support, then , this post will be of help.
Here is the YouTube video where I explain it in detail:
The slides above present the gist of what I wish to share with you and I believe they are self-explanatory. if you cannot read Tamil but can understand Tamil, watch me go over these slides in Tamil in the YouTube video.
Basically, what starts off as political rhetoric, spoken by politicians/groups ends up creating political ideologies which in turn evolve into legislation depending on when that politician/group come to power. The laws thus formed get implemented through administrative orders. Now, when we hear a rhetoric, we need to understand, what ideologies is it aiming at and how will it get translated into laws and subsequently into administrative orders. Not all rhetoric/ideologies can or end up becoming laws and orders. This is where most of us voters are taken for a ride by the political groups.
Overall, Dravidan/Dravidar is a collective identity that evolved to indicate South Indians. Tamils in Tamilnadu have no more need to consider this identity as part of their political thought process. Dravidar/Dravidan is usually, in the TN-Political context referring to Tamils/Telugus/Kannadigas/Malayalis clubbed together into one group. Since those states have established that they have never used the same identity to consider Tamils in equal plane, it is about time Tamils move away from the same. It has, against popular opinion, nothing to do with boycott of any sort.
What do you think?
Best Regards,
