Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai has spoken about Tamil Brahmins being ill-treated by Dravidianists just like Jews were targeted by Nazis. His support to the much-abused community has received both gratitude and criticism. While many welcomed recognising the marginalisation Tamil Brahmins face in the state, some felt he exaggerated it by comparing the community’s issues with that faced by Jews.

In an interview with ANI, Annamalai said that Tamil Brahmins of TN were treated “literally like Jews” by DMK. He recalled how they were chased away from agraharams (town/village areas near temples where Brahmins used to reside as a community) through continuous harassment. The video has found support from many quarters as no political party acknowledges the plight of Tamil Brahmins who were driven out to find livelihood in other states and foreign countries.

However, some found it an exaggeration. They claimed that while Nazis murdered scores of Jews in gas chambers, Tamil Brahmins didn’t face as much violence and managed to survive. To an extent, it is true that it cannot be said that Tamil Brahmins are treated “literally” like Jews. The latter were targeted and persecuted with the active help of the state, Dravidianists couldn’t do much, even with political power. But it cannot be said that Brahmins didn’t face violence, and it is also true that the threat exists even today.

It all started with EV Ramasamy, who started comparing Tamil Brahmins with Jews to portray the former as villains usurping the rights of other communities – and in doing so, EVR clearly followed in Hitler’s footsteps In his magazine Kudiarasu, he wrote,

“Jews think that they are the chosen one, Brahmin also say they are from the head of God. Jews show lamp during worship, Brahmin also do it. Jews don’t mix with other castes, Tamil Brahmins also don’t mix with other castes. Jews have no fixed country to call their own and also have no patriotism, Tamil Brahmins also have no country to call their own and have no patriotism.

What is the difference? Jews do not work hard but always go in search of money. Same with Tamil Brahmins. Jews don’t care, have no responsibility to society but only focus on getting close to the rulers and then getting into power and torturing  and killing others. Tamil Brahmins also do the same. Jews stories and philosophy are totally against rationalists, similarly Brahmins’ religious stories are also irrational? See, isn’t there a big similarity?

Jews are not courageous – instead of ruling through valour they are experts in sectarian and dividing and ruling. Since Brahmins are exactly like this (no courage)  – you tell me isn’t there a possibility the Jews and the Brahmins are the same? In appearance and colour also Jews and Tamil Brahmins are very similar. Therefore, instead of calling Paapans (Tamil Brahmins) as Aryan, isn’t it better we (Non Brahmin) call them the Jew? Therefore, I request researchers to go through this and see if Brahmins are Jews or not.”

He sold this idea so well that Dravidianists started doing caricatures of Brahmins similar to ‘evil Jews’ as portrayed by Nazis. Almost in all his speeches he referred to this ‘reasoning’ and encouraged violence against Brahmins. In one of the audios available of his speech, we come to know of the spine chilling hatred he harbored for Tamil Brahmins and passed on to his followers. He called for wiping Tamil Brahmins off the face of the earth and even gave an arithmetic calculation of how it wouldn’t affect the non-Brahmins.

He ‘reasoned’ that as Brahmins constitute 3% of Tamil society, assuming non-Brahmins and Brahmins are killed in a 1:1 ratio during the violent genocide, there will still be 94% Tamils left after the killings, but no Brahmin will be alive. Dravidianists of today claim that such speeches were delivered in the heat of the moment and no Brahmin was actually killed. Today those who say that Annamalai ‘exaggerates the plight of Tamil Brahmins’, also make the same argument.

But even today, some people feel they should have followed EV Ramasamy’s advice and wiped away the Brahmin community. In EV Ramasamy’s time, Periyarists harassed Brahmins by cutting their janeu, shikha, defacing their houses, etc. One of them even boasted that Ramasamy would weigh the janeus cut by his followers, bundled up in sacks, and praise them in his magazine Kudiarasu. It continues to this day when a Brahmin dares to speak up against any injustice. 

A DMK spokesperson, who was formerly with Naam Tamilar Katchi, a Tami nationalist party, tweeted wishing they had followed Ramasamy’s words and genocided Tamil Brahmins. Twitter user Reality Check India catalogues all such hate speeches, incitements and provocations in his blog which show why the anti-Brahmin propaganda of DMK and its assorted organisations is not mere rhetoric.

Similar to how Jews were portrayed as a minority community controlling everything in society, that they brainwashed others and hoarded the resources, that they are invaders and that all the societal evils descended from their ethos, Tamil Brahmins are demonised by Dravidianist ideologues and accused for every problem that ails the Tamil society.

Yes, they may not have been killed en masse in gas chambers. But as Reality Check notes, who is to say an anti-Brahmin Dravidianist professional, say a doctor, didn’t harm a Tamil Brahmin because he believes in this rhetoric? Last year, a video of a well-known Periyarist, Kovai Ramakrishnan, went viral on social media. In that video, he quoted EV Ramasamy’s words “Paappans (slur for Brahmins), you better reform yourselves when I’m alive. I’m being very soft. The horde that follows me won’t be as soft. There will be rivers of blood. Youngsters and children and everyone will come forward”.

Then he said to the crowd, “Now you have come in thousands and lakhs”, implying that the current and next generation of Periyarists are ready to unleash violence on Brahmins to let a river of blood flow on the streets. Members of his organisation were booked for throwing Molotov cocktails at Tuglaq magazine editor Gurumurthy’s house. There have been instances of young followers of Dravidian ideologues heeding their call and cutting janeus of unsuspecting Brahmins in broad daylight.

With a party that takes pride in a 100% Brahmin-free assembly in power, the threat of Dravidianists repeating what happened to Jews or Kashmiri Pandits with the Tamil Brahmin community cannot be dismissed. At any rate, their hateful and vile rhetoric has no place in a civilized society.