Monopolising Periyar

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 39 (Sep. 27 - Oct. 3, 2008), p. 7
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40277987
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= EDITORIALS

MonopolisingPeriyar
overthepublication
andwritings.
shouldhaveexclusive
No individual
ororganisation
rights
ofPeriyar's
speeches
MSS Pandianwrites:

inKudiArasu,a journalstartedbyhimin 1925,and an 8oo-page

whichwas launchedin
thegeneralsecretary
ofthe selectionfromtheEnglishjournal,Revolt,
a recentstatement,
K Veeramani,
Movementand was editedby Periyar's
Dravidar
prop- 1928 by the Self-respect
Kazhagam(dk),hasclaimedthatthe"intellectual
Unlikethedk,Periyar
DravidarKazhagamlacks
andspeechesrest wifeNagammiyar.
E V Ramasam/s
ofPeriyar
writings
ertyrights"
whichhe heads. resources;yetit has chosento launchthismassivepublication
Institute
withthePeriyar
Self-Respect
Propaganda
works.Thewhole
themwouldbe liableto projecttoputinthehandsofthepeoplePeriyar's
He haswarnedthatanyonewhoreproduces
whichhasgenerated
muchexpectation
over project,
In otherwords,Veeramani
is seekinga monopoly
amongthereading
prosecution.
and
which publicin TamilNadu,is financedbyvoluntary
contributions
andpolitical
labourofoverhalfa century
intellectual
Periyar's
discount
offer.
transformed
thepolitical
commonsenseofthestate.
bya pre-publication
moneygenerated
radically
Veeramani's
effort
tomonopolise
It is indeeda long-standing
Periyar's
Significantly,
writings
politicaltraditionin TamilNadu
in thepublicdomain,
ofPeriyarist
thatdifferent
politicaland socialpersua- and speechesand to stoptheircirculation
publishers
ownpolitics.He considered
works.Thishas ensureda constant runscounterto Periyar's
sionsfreely
propagation
publishPeriyar's
ideasas theprimary
workofthedk. He didnotthink
circulationof his writingsand speeches in the Tamil public ofrationalist
as a profit-making
venture.In a letterwritten
to his
sphere.Mostoftenthosewho publishPeriyar'sworksare small- ofpublishing
Pillaiin1947,hesaid,"My
E M Subramania
time publisherswith meagre resources.It is their political Saivitefellow-traveller
are pricedverylow.Thereis no orderly
sale. Mostof
whichdrivesthemtopublication.
commitment
publications
itis difficult
toworkwithina
free.Therefore
in the past to publishPeriyar's themare distributed
Therewerealso majorefforts
ofrationalist
itwasthecirculation
ForPeriyar,
Forum businessframework."
and publishedbyThinkers'
works.EditedbyV Anaimuthu
thaneverything
else.What\feeramani
in 1974,the threevolumePeriyarChintanikal ideasthatwasmoreimportant
of Tiruchirapalli
ofsuchideas.
istostiflethefreecirculation
and has isattempting
Thoughts')has becomethestandardreference
CPeriyar's
in
the
theDravidaMunnetra
the
on
Tamil
and
in
both
voluminous
research
state,
ruling
party
Regrettably,
English
spawned
Theparty's
with
Veeramani.
to
seems
of
free
use
and
Such
(dmk),
go
along
writings
Kazhagam
Periyar's
Periyar's
politics thoughts.
officialdaily Murosoli prominentlypublished Veeramani's
inthestateinthepast.
hasneverbeenquestioned
with
as ifdissuadingthedmkcadresfromassociating
worksin thestatefrom statement
Thoughthereis demandforPeriyar's
the readingpublic,neitherthe dk nor the PeriyarSelf-Respect the PeriyarDravidarKazhagam'spublicationproject.Afterall,
haswarmedup to thedmk aftera stintofclosenessto
to bringthemout. Veeramani
has takenmucheffort
PropagandaInstitute
and theAll IndiaAnnaDravidaMunnetraKazhagam.The dmkmay
vastproperties
Thisis so despitethefactthatthedk controls
friend.
Whatis more,an armyofdk activists notwanttoalienateitsnew-found
is nevershortofresources.
ofthestate,claimstimeand
minister
the
chief
M
of
all
the
labouredformonthsand produceda handwritten
Karunanidhi,
copy
If thatis true,he
and
a
rationalist.
a
is
that
he
it
to
Veeramani
over
and
handed
of
and
Periyarist
again
writings speeches Periyar
has elapsed,theprinted shouldwithoutdelay nationalisethe worksof Periyarso that
in 1983.Thougha quarterof a century
ofworks
labourofthedk anyonecan publishthem.In fact,earliernationalisation
volumes- expectedfromthismassivevoluntary
the
and Kalkihasdemocratised
ofauthorssuchas Puthumaipittan
cadres- havenotseenthelightofday.
has
ended
the
in
state
and
the
of
whichseemstohaveevokedthethreat
context
Theimmediate
profit-seeking
publishing
by sphere
- despitehisownfailureto publishtheworks- is the monopolyover such works.Afterall, Periyaris an important
Veeramani
to politicalresourcetoday in Tamil Nadu with the Hindu right
a Periyarist
Dravidar
organisation,
Kazhagam,
planbythePeriyar
inthestate.
hardto finda foothold
and
of
volumes
out
writings speechespublished striving
Periyar's
bring 27
FROM SO YEARS AGO

Members of Lok Sabha, Malaviyaji was wise,

forone can never tell in these matters.There
are two featuresabout the strikein Cambay
a Journalof Currenteconomicanb political flffiirf
which suggest tremendouspossibilities.One is
that oil has been struckat a depth of around
VOL X, NO 39, SEPTEMBER27, 1958
6,500 feet which compares very favourably
WEEKLY NOTES
with the average depth of more than 10,000
feetat whichoil has been located in Assam and
When oil is struckthe rightthing to do is to proved to be suitable forcommercialexploitation.The second feature,also important,is that
cross ones fingersand hope forthe best, foras
Malaviyaji told Lok Sabha that however suc- it is a gushingwell whichhas been struck.That
cessfulthe strikein Cambay,it was premature is to say,iffurther
drillingin thisarea confirms
to say that oil had been found in sufficient the findingsof the testwells so fardug, extracquantityto ensure successful commercial ex- tion would be economical in that it will not
ploitation.In damping the enthusiasm of the requireexpensivepumpingoperations.

economic
She
SteeMg
CambayOil Strike

Economic& Politicalweekly

DOB

Today, Shri K D Malaviya must be the luckiest

among all the Ministers of the Central
Governmentand it is not surprisingthat the
should
supplementarydemands forhis Ministry
have been passed by the Lok Sabha withouta
murmur.The strike,whatevertheeventualoutcome, should push oil explorationrightintothe
heart of the hard core of the Plan. So long both
the Natural Gas and Oil Commission and the
Ministerin charge of oil explorationshad many
critics.It is no secretthatthe PlanningCommission never looked kindlyon the proposal for
extendingthese activities,thoughin fairnessto
the Commission it should be noted thatallocation foroil explorationhas been increased...

September 27, 2008

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