Amidst the condescending anti-North Dravidian politicians, Dr.Krishnaswamy, President of the Puthia Tamilagam party, has called upon Tamils to acknowledge the sacrifices made by Bharatiyas in the North. He said that states like Bihar, UP, and WB lack development because of brutal Islamic invasions.

Speaking at an event organised by News18 Tamil, he said that Dravidian Stock, Dravidian Model, etc are nothing but veiled expressions of eagerness to secede from Bharat. Talking about the way Dravidian politicians mock Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, etc for lagging in growth, he asked “Have we ever faced the atrocities these states did?”.

Touching upon a rarely discussed topic of Islamic invasion, he said “We are living comfortably and in peace today because of the sacrifices made by those who live in the North. When our country was chopped off to create East Pakistan and West Pakistan, lakhs and lakhs of people died. Did we face such tragedies? They are struggling to recover from the effects of the Islamic invasion and British plunder”.

He acknowledged that if not for those in the North, there would be no Bharat and Tamils wouldn’t have been able to identify themselves either as Dravida or Tamil. Accusing DMK of encouraging separatism, he said “Don’t talk about Dravidian Model with a concealed intention of separating TN”. He directly accused DMK of encouraging secessionism and termed it as the danger of the Dravidian model.

It is not entirely true that Tamil Nadu didn’t face the Islamic onslaught. Punya Kshetras like Srirangam and Madurai were ransacked by Malik Kafur and Ulugh Khan. More than 20,000 Hindus died in Srirangam trying to protect the Ranganatha Swamy temple. Only after the Vijayanagara empire’s army defeated the Madurai Sultanate did the Tamil region see peace. However, it is true that the South, especially TN didn’t go through as many difficulties and losses as the Northern parts of Bharat.

Puthia Tamilagam and Dr.Krishnaswamy have been working to remove their caste Devendra Kula Vellalar from the Scheduled Caste list and move up to the Other Backward Classes list. It is usual for DMK politicians to mock and deride Hindi-speaking citizens of Bharat as illiterate, panipuri/pan walas ( 1, 2, 3). Recently even the Higher Education minister Ponmudi had mocked that those who speak Hindi come to TN to sell panipuri while opposing the center’s three-language policy.

So, Dr.Krishnaswamy’s speech calling out DMK on its hypocrisy and acknowledging the sacrifices of fellow Bharatiyas in the North comes as a breath of fresh air.