Self-immolation entwined in Dravidian movement (original) (raw)

CHENNAI: When 27-year-old Chinnasamy of Kizhappazhuvur village in Tiruchi district set himself ablaze on January 25, 1965 during the peak of anti-Hindi agitation, he not only left behind his young wife and infant daughter but also a legacy of an extreme form of protest that modern society cannot be proud of.
"I plan to die in order to protect Tamil.

One day, my goal will be met," he said in a note before committing self immolation.
The incident sparked off a series of suicides with six more youths setting themselves afire in the same year to protest against imposition of Hindi. In fact, Tamil Nadu watched with shock as three youths bathed themselves in fire in consecutive days.
As the dravidian movement considers them martyrs, a subway and a park in Chennai city were named after two of them ��� 'Virugambakkam' Aranganathan and 'Kodambakkam' Sivalingam. Since then, self immolation has been entwined with the dravidian movement. Whether it was the death of their leaders or any humiliation or election reverses suffered by them, frenzied followers resorted to the extreme step as a means of either mourning or protest.

When dravidian stalwarts like C N Annadurai and M G Ramachandran died, several inconsolable followers took away their lives. And the trend continued when DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa were arrested and Vaiko, who later formed the MDMK, was expelled from the DMK in 1993.
While attempt to suicide is a crime as per law, it is ironical that self immolation for a general cause' is considered as martyrdom. Political leaders value such sacrifices' by their followers and compensate their families, besides honouring the memory of those who took their lives for their leaders' cause.

In his book "Tamizharin Marupakkam" (The Other Side of Tamils), academician and Tamil scholar K P Aravanan has mentioned that out of the 15 people who took away their lives in the country in the wake of former prime minister Indira Gandhi's assassination, 14 of them belonged to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
"Unlike in other parts of India, the politics in Tamil Nadu is personality cult-oriented. People mostly get attached to a movement not based on ideologies but due to affinity towards personalities. Such kind of allurement was much enjoyed by MGR as his image on the silver screen, his action and songs, made a deep impression on his fans," said a senior leader associated with the Dravidian movement.
Describing the trend as "highly condemnable," political analyst and journalist, Cho S Ramasamy, said the practice took roots after the advent of the DMK and spread to its offshoots like the AIADMK and the MDMK.
"Although they call themselves as rationalists, they encourage such practices by rewarding the victims' families and glorifying them as martyrs. In fact, when Karunanidhi was arrested during MGR's regime, the DMK's party organ 'Murasoli' brought out a list of their martyrs everyday," he said.
Calling the practice a "peculiar habit of Tamil psyche," Indian Psychiatric Society former president S Nambi said self immolation had been part of Tamil culture ever since the sangam period. Pointing out to the great Tamil epic 'Silappathikaram' in which Kannagi, the protagonist, sets fire to Madurai to avenge her husband's killing, he said self-immolation was seen as a means to ventilate one's emotional feelings and express his sacrificial quality.