DMK treasurer and Parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu on Monday took exception to Governor R.N. Ravi’s contention that the British created a “false history” as part of their divide-and-rule policy and the concept of Aryans and Dravidians was mainly a geographical, rather than racial, division.
In a statement, he said there was no evidence for the allegation that the British created the Aryan-Dravidian divide since the term Dravidian existed even before the arrival of the British in the 1600s. “What does the Governor seek to prove by his claims,” he asked.
Pointing out that a lot of books have been written on the subject by great historians, Mr. Baalu said the Governor would understand them even if he merely flipped through the pages of the books.
According to him, the British brought together various small kingdoms, samasthans and disintegrated land to rule India and made use of various divisions such as caste, languages, religions and other differences. “But one cannot accuse them of creating these divisions. It is like suppressing historical facts. If Mr. Ravi reads Vedic-period literature, he will realise who the creators of these divisions are,” Mr. Baalu said.
India was now ruled by the BJP and not the British, he said, adding, “Mr. Ravi can take steps to eliminate all the divisions instead of giving an imaginative tint to history.”
The DMK leader said Mr. Ravi should keep in mind that a post such as Governor General was created by the British. “He should abide by the oath taken during his swearing-in and stay away from expressing controversial views,” Mr. Baalu said.
