-Akshayaram Viswanathan
October 12, 2016 In a land of one billion Hindus took place an event which sent a sign of hatefulness, disgust and sadness to all who worship and practice Sanatana dharma.
Thandai Periyar Dravidar Kazagam(TPDK) a splinter group of Periyar Dravidar Kazagam(DK) conducted Ravan Leela opposing the 470-year-old tradition of Ram Leela at Chennai, TPDK cadres burnt the images of Ram, Seetha and Lakshman, well If you are shocked on reading this then there is something you have to know, this is not the first time for the Periyar group as they have already done it under the leadership of Maniammai in Periyar's thidal at Chennai during Indira Gandhi’s period.
October 12, 2016 In a land of one billion Hindus took place an event which sent a sign of hatefulness, disgust and sadness to all who worship and practice Sanatana dharma.
Thandai Periyar Dravidar Kazagam(TPDK) a splinter group of Periyar Dravidar Kazagam(DK) conducted Ravan Leela opposing the 470-year-old tradition of Ram Leela at Chennai, TPDK cadres burnt the images of Ram, Seetha and Lakshman, well If you are shocked on reading this then there is something you have to know, this is not the first time for the Periyar group as they have already done it under the leadership of Maniammai in Periyar's thidal at Chennai during Indira Gandhi’s period.
Event was headed by Kumaran, Chennai district secretary, TPDK .on contacting Kumaran before the event, Kumaran told press that (we quote his words)
"it does not matter if ‘Ram Leela’ is celebrated in Tamil Nadu or not. In Delhi, effigies of Ravan and his two brothers are burnt, we believe that they are Dravidians and burning their effigies is mocking us. So to stop that, we have decided to celebrate ‘Ravan Leela’ in which we will be burning the effigies of Ram, Sita and Lakshman”.
Still this concept of Ravana being portrayed as Dravidian is still not accepted by majority of the public, former Chief Justice of Tamil Nadu Markendeya katju recently referred Ravana as a Brahmin in his facebook post.
Still this concept of Ravana being portrayed as Dravidian is still not accepted by majority of the public, former Chief Justice of Tamil Nadu Markendeya katju recently referred Ravana as a Brahmin in his facebook post.
With numerous theories and conspiracy supporting both the sides, it is very difficult for us to come to a conclusion for deciding on Ravana caste, but Valmiki’s epic was not based on caste rather typical good vs evil fight. Let’s see what really happened on the day of the Ravan Leela, how police acted based on our experience
The original event was actually planned at 5:05 PM near Sanskrit college, Mylapore according to posters circulated by TPDK, Several private individuals and many organizations on seeing the posters reacted initially by giving a written complaint to Deputy commissioner office at Mylapore.
On the day of the event police was tightened heavily near Sanskrit college, on contacting the police personnel at 3:30 PM they said that “security has been tightened up since 9 in the morning and necessary measures have been taken to stop the act, and we are sure that there will be a change in the venue ”(quoting police message).
Our team then visited Royapettah to check the situation there, since TPDK office is headquartered at VM street, Royapettah. TPDK cadres were seen roaming and having chat in small groups of 4 and 5 publically wearing their trademark plain black shirt, we also noticed TPDK flags kept at sides of shops and event posters painted on the walls, police were there in large numbers in and around VM street, by this time it was 4:00 PM.
The original event was actually planned at 5:05 PM near Sanskrit college, Mylapore according to posters circulated by TPDK, Several private individuals and many organizations on seeing the posters reacted initially by giving a written complaint to Deputy commissioner office at Mylapore.
On the day of the event police was tightened heavily near Sanskrit college, on contacting the police personnel at 3:30 PM they said that “security has been tightened up since 9 in the morning and necessary measures have been taken to stop the act, and we are sure that there will be a change in the venue ”(quoting police message).
Our team then visited Royapettah to check the situation there, since TPDK office is headquartered at VM street, Royapettah. TPDK cadres were seen roaming and having chat in small groups of 4 and 5 publically wearing their trademark plain black shirt, we also noticed TPDK flags kept at sides of shops and event posters painted on the walls, police were there in large numbers in and around VM street, by this time it was 4:00 PM.
At the same time few more people back in Sanskrit college came from Hindu Munani(HM) and enquired police on arrangement made on police side for stopping the act, police responded to them in a most unexpected way by arresting them. Remaining men from HM split into two half, while one half remained at Mylapore the other half went to Royapettah to view the situation and take necessary action.
At 5:00PM and there was no sign of event at both the places, the initial move by TPDM cadres took place around 5:30PM when a small group of four started to attack lord Ram image painted on the wall with their slippers at Royepettah VM street, the police rushed to the place to stop and arrest them, this paved way for another small group to take out lord Ram image and burn it in front of Anna statue in the middle of Royepettah junction this made another group of police run behind for this small gang. Keeping police busy at both the ends another small group acted silently by taking out the hidden Sita Devi image from an auto parked in front of AIADMK office and burn it without any hurdle.
With all these acts happening simultaneously another group of TPDM cadres along with their leader Kumaran meet the press in front of Anna statue, police arrested all of them who were meeting the press and managed to get a handful who were caught red-handed during the act, rest were left wandering and preparing for further action. This continued till 6:30PM until when police managed to get everything under control
With all these acts happening simultaneously another group of TPDM cadres along with their leader Kumaran meet the press in front of Anna statue, police arrested all of them who were meeting the press and managed to get a handful who were caught red-handed during the act, rest were left wandering and preparing for further action. This continued till 6:30PM until when police managed to get everything under control
India being the single largest secular country with the biggest democracy in the world, it is very upsetting to see the democratic rights of this great nation being misused as a tool for spreading hatred and arrogance. We hope in future every strong ideology or protest does not affect the base in which our secularism is built on UNITY IN DIVERSITY.
Jai hind
Great Post da !
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DeleteThank you.
DeleteThe sinful event was captured with pain in heart. Circulate the post so that it should reach maximum pair of eyes.
ReplyDeleteWill do ji.
DeleteNice! Keep going!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteNice! Keep going!
ReplyDeleteNice one...
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteNice one...
ReplyDeleteGreat post Akshay
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteAwesome da Akshay! Keep it up! All the Best.
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