Naam Tamilar Katchi chief co-ordinator Seeman on Friday threatened to launch protests against the State government if it goes ahead with the proposal to rename Sangam poems and other historical Tamil literary works as ‘Dravida Kalanjiyam’ and condemned ‘Dravidian revisionism’.
Mr. Seeman said that renaming Tamil literary works as Dravida Kalanjiyam just because British scholar Robert Caldwell coined the term ‘Dravidian’ is comparable to the conspiracy of the ‘Aryans’ who claim that Tamils are ‘Hindus’ because of Sir William Jones passed a law. “The young and proud Tamils will not allow it. I urge the State Government to rename Tamil literary works as ‘Tamil Kalanjiyam’. If the State Government fails to do, it would have to face severe protests,” he said.
Mr. Seeman said, “People who live here are Tamils, they speak the Tamil language, the works have been written in Tamil. Then, how can the compilations be called ‘Dravida Kalanjiyam’.”
He added, “The leaders call themselves with adages such as ‘Tamizhar Thalaivar’, ‘Tamizhena Thalaivar’ and speak about Tamil language, Tamils and Tamil Nadu to seek votes from the people. After coming to power, they talk about Dravidian ethnicity, Dravida Kalanjiyam, Dravida Chiruthai. This is systematic attempt to erase Tamil identity. Why can’t they seek votes from Dravidians and call Dravidians for public meetings before the elections?”
