Why do I believe that Tamil Nadu represents the idea of India?
Today, we are celebrating the Tamil New Year even though the New Year day was April 14. It is very common to hear from my friends, especially from other states in India, to call Tamil Nadu and Tamils as outliers and not part of the national mainstream. They are right when they say we are outliers but wrong when they say we are not part of the national mainstream. We are outliers but in a positive way and we are probably the only state that truly lives the idea of India.
To help you understand my argument, let me take you back to the time of independence. India became an union thanks to the great efforts of our freedom fighters and our visionary leaders. One of the biggest challenges at that time was to bring people together under a common identity. People were split in the name of caste, religion, language, kingdoms and so on and so forth. To give an example, the Calcutta Riots of 1946, also known as the “Great Calcutta Killing,” were four days of massive Hindu-Muslim riots in the capital of Bengal, resulting in 5,000 to 10,000 dead, and some 15,000 wounded, between August 16 and 19, 1946.
India is the common umbrella that united such a vastly diverse set of ethnic groups into one country with the vision of helping the people overcome all their conflicts through a common identity. India is not just an identity. India is a noble idea. Take the example of the European Union(EU). The European countries fought with each other, shed a lot of blood and the amount of violence unleashed among them as well as on other cultures is unimaginable. Over a period of time, they realized their mistakes and figured out that in order to grow they need to collaborate and not compete with each other. They realized that if their country has to be peaceful, their neighbors have to be peaceful. The European Union is an outcome of this realization and today, so many cultures and countries co-exist peacefully and they have made tremendous progress. Our founding fathers not just created the Europe equivalent of today in the 1940s but they went even beyond to unite them into one country. The motto was ‘Unity in Diversity’ and that every citizen in any part of the country has the same right as any other citizen.
With this background context, I’ll ask a few questions and through that I intend to make my case for you.
1.Do you know of any state where there were three Chief Ministers who are from different cultures in India and governed the state for nearly four decades?
2.Do you know of any state in India where people chose to give up their caste names and instead use father’s name as surname?’
3.Do you know of any state where your biggest movie star is someone from a different culture?
4. Do you know any state in India which has the highest number of Hindu temples and yet is the state where the atheist movement spread like wildfire?
5. Do you know of any state in India that has won all the Nobel Prizes in science that India has ever received?
6. Do you know of any state where Hindi is not accepted as a national language?
7. Do you know a state in India whose diaspora is there in almost every country in the world?
8. Do you know which is the most urbanized state in India?
9. Do you know which Indian language is the official language of one of the world’s most advanced economies?’
10. Do you know of any state where youngsters protested peacefully to get back a historical sport that was banned?’
The answer is Tamil Nadu.
In addition, I would ask ‘Do you know of any country or culture in the world’ for questions 1– 4. Even the advanced western economies that talk about inclusivity and diversity have not achieved many of the things that Tamil Nadu has achieved from a social integration standpoint.
How many states and countries have seen people from other cultures take leadership roles? Tamil Nadu had a Sri Lankan born Malayali (MGR), a Kannadiga (Jayalalitha) and a Telugu (Karunanidhi) to become Chief Ministers of the state. A Marati raised in Karnataka (Rajinikanth) is the most popular film star here and almost everyone in India knows the craze that surrounds his films every time. Tamil is an official language in Sri Lanka and even in one of the most advanced economies of the world, Singapore. Tamil people don’t use caste names as surnames. If Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was born in Tamil Nadu, he would have been ‘R.Sachin’ and his passport will read Ramesh Sachin.
When Chennai was flooded several years back, our people leveraged social media to help people stranded in flood waters. In any other state that witnessed natural calamities or any crisis, we would have been watching people complain about how the government didn’t help them. Here people didn’t wait for the government to offer a helping hand. When Jallikattu, a heritage sport for Tamils, was banned, Tamil youngsters staged a peaceful, non violent protest and forced the government to lift the ban. What happens when people protest in other states? What are these protests usually for? Most of the protests in recent years are for asking for special privileges for their caste and every time, they end up in massive violence causing so much trouble for the common person.
The state is an outlier from all other states in India in many ways. When the current ruling party swept to power with a massive mandate in the 2013 and 2019 central elections, there was one state where the ruling party got zero seats. Shahrukh khan is the biggest superstar in India and in many african & middle eastern countries but he is not even an ordinary star in Tamil Nadu. Is it only about film stars and political leaders? The density of doctors per 1,000 people in Tamil Nadu is as high as 4, almost at the same level as countries like Norway and Sweden, where it is 4.3 and 4.2 respectively.
The Mid day meals program, initially started a small effort in the Sourashtra school in Madurai which was later introduced by Justice Party in Chennai was rolled out at the state level by Chief Minister Kamaraj and later taken to greater levels by MGR, Karunanidhi and J.Jayalalitha has become a global phenomenon. Even though the supreme court has capped the reservation at 50%, Tamil nadu has a reservation system that has 69% reservation for jobs and in higher education. Social justice, Affirmative action, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) are hot topics today globally but these principles were deeply established in Tamil nadu long before they became a global phenomenon.
In addition, in terms of history, the origin of the first Indian is traced to Virumandi from a small village called Jyotimanickam near Karumathur on the outskirts of Madurai. This village is 5–6 kms from the place where I grew up as a kid. According to a genetic research carried out by National Geographic under the supervision of Dr.Spencer Wells and Dr.M.Pitchappan of Madurai Kamaraj University (who used to be our neighbour in the Staff Quarters in the University when I was growing up), the M130 gene, found only among the direct descendants of the first migrant from the African coast who arrived in South India 70, 000 years ago. There is no other older gene marker in India which helps to prove this case. This story was also published in leading newspapers such as WSJ Mint and Hindustan Times.
This gene was also found among the aborigines in Australia which explains the migration that happened below India which also presents the existence of a landmass that connected Africa to Australia connecting India.
This was captured in the ‘The Story of India’, a BBC documentary series, written and presented by historian Michael Wood about the history of India. It originally aired on BBC Two in six episodes in August and September 2007 as part of the BBC season “India and Pakistan 07”, which marked the 60 year independence of India and Pakistan. An accompanying text to the series, titled Michael Wood: The Story of India, was published by BBC Books on 16 August 2007.As in most of his documentaries, Michael Wood explains historical events by travelling to the places where they took place, examining archaeological and historical evidence at first hand and interviewing historians and archaeologists, as well as talking with local people.
Also, the archaeological excavations in Keezhadi and Adichanallur further strengthen this point. The first man-made tool was found in Adichanallur in Thoothukudi district. Korkai, the capital of the Early Pandyan Kingdom, is located about 15 km from Adichanallur. Carbon dating of samples excavated in 2004 from the Adichanallur site has revealed that they belonged to the period between 1000 BC and 600 BC and a well built city from 2000 years ago was found under a coconut farm in Keezhadi, a village that is just 4 kms from the Engineering college campus where I studied. I visited Keezhadi and the researchers who were doing the work said that the entire Vaigai riverbed till Ramanathapuram was a treasure cove of great Tamil history.
Am I painting a picture of Tamil Nadu as if it is the gold standard of India and the world? But how many states can claim that they have had a CM from another ethnicity, a superstar from another state, no caste surnames, most active urban development, such rich history, such social justice programs, contrasting belief systems, peaceful co-existence of different faiths? It may not be the perfect state. Of late, there are some fringe groups that are spoiling the name of Tamil Nadu by taking a divisive approach around Tamil identity and more recently, hit innocent cricket fans for watching IPL to protest against the non establishment of cauvery river water management board. Even after taking away caste names, we can’t say that caste has been fully eradicated. There are various other problems just like any other state in India.
But we have progressed much further than any of them as a society. We are much more peaceful and harmonious than any other state in India. Our law and order is much better, our literacy rates are high, our people are true globetrotters, our movie makers make authentic and real films, our artists have bagged an Oscar, our scientists have won all the science Nobel Prizes for India and our people of different faith live as one family. In fact, the idea of India exists only in Tamil Nadu. The rest of India are outliers from the national values and not us.
I am proud of my culture for living up to that noble idea called India and its motto ‘Unity in Diversity’. If you are from Tamil Nadu, be proud of your inclusiveness, your tolerance, your rationalism, your unity and not on anything else.
