Influence of Dravidian ethos on identity of Muslims key to harmony in TN: Experts

Influence of Dravidian ethos on identity of Muslims key to harmony in TN: Experts
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Chennai: Kombai S Anwar has been conducting ‘Iftar walks’ – a heritage walk around Chennai for the past six years during Ramadan – to enlighten people on the history and cultural differences of Muslims in Chennai amidst the propaganda against the community he has been questioning since the early 1990s. When he moved from Trichy district to Chennai in the 80s to study visual communication at the Loyola college, people would switch over to talking to him in either Hindi or Urdu once they heard his name.

“The irony is that I come from a family which has been steeped in anti-Hindi (agitations),” says Anwar, a historian and a documentary filmmaker. “The standard for the Tamil Muslim community itself is Islam engal vazhi. Inba Tamizh engal mozhi (meaning Islam is our way of life. Sweet Tamil is our language).” Anwar’s documentary Yaadum in 2015 traces the history and identity of the Tamil Muslims.

And this combined linguistic and religious identity has ensured that Muslims in Tamil Nadu are ingrained in the socio-political-cultural fabric of the state where they are not viewed in silos, unlike several other parts of the country.

Muslims have been political participants from the role played by the Qaid-e-Millath-led Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in the Justice Party [a precursor to the Dravidian parties] to having two Muslim ministers in the present DMK cabinet.

These factors, experts say, have contributed to keeping the religious harmony in Tamil Nadu amidst the BJP’s dominant politics of Hindutva.

Importance of Muslims can be gauged from the all political parties including the ruling DMK, the main opposition AIADMK and their expelled leader V K Sasikala, the BJP, hosting Iftar parties.

Leader of the opposition Edapaddi Palaniswmai who hosted an iftar last Thursday said that like AIADMK’s founder M G Ramachandran and his successor J Jayalalithaa, they continue to be custodians of minorities. He added that when they were in power they supported the Presidential candidature of APJ Abdul Kalam and appointed Yasmin Ahmed, a former bureaucrat, as the first Muslim chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Public Services Commission. “We are not merely masters of rhetoric, we have demonstrated (being custodians of minorities) in our deeds,” he said.

Chief minister M K Stalin hosted an Iftar event last Sunday where he pointed out to the AIADMK voting in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Act while the DMK has opposed it. “Attempts are being made to divide Tamil Nadu by caste and religion. Some people want to stop the development of the state by dividing us,” Stalin had said.

Experts say that Tamil Nadu’s secularism– barring few episodes particularly after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 and the 1998 bomb blasts during L K Advani’s visit to Coimbatore district– is a major factor in the state’s upward mobility.

It is common in Tamil Nadu to see a mullah and priest and a protestant Christian on a forum together and it isn’t mere symbolism because all religious leaders here have been involved in democratic politics, says S Anandi, professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) whose research focuses on caste, gender and identity politics. “Historically Dravidian politics has included Muslims, given them special privileges, and they have always been a part of political alliances,” says Anandi. “But as far as Muslim women’s participation is considered, I think the visibility is very poor across India as well as in Tamil Nadu.”

In the past days of the self-respect movement, E V Ramaswamy, founder of the Dravidian movement and referred to as Periyar found Islam as a progressive religion and included Tamil Muslims as Dravidians. “Periyar saw conversion to Islam as a better alternative for most of the poor and lower caste communities in Tamil Nadu even though he never approved of any religion,” says Anandi.

Political science professor, Ramu Manivanan, says unlike the rest of India, Tamil Nadu did not see any communal violence during the pre-independence era because of Periyar. “At that time the larger political Dravidian organisation was more against the supremacy of the Congress. And Muslim leaders were part of the Dravidian movement. They are not seen as invaders and have put the Tamil linguistic identity above the religious identity,” says Manivanan.

When the Congress was defeated and DMK came to power for the first time in 1967, the party’s first chief minister C N Annadurai strengthened the existing relationship with Muslims which his successor and five-time chief minister M Karunanidhi fortified. The Tamil Muslim singer Nagore Hanifa, a close friend of Karunanidhi, who sang songs for the Dravidian Movement continued to sing propaganda songs for the DMK, Manivannan adds that though AIADMK has Muslim representation, they do not have high-profile Muslim leadership.

Manivanan says Muslims not being considered invaders or outsiders has resulted in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not been able catch the imagination of larger Hindu population in the state. “In Tamil Nadu, people take stock of the polarisation, they may complain against Muslims, but it doesn’t lead to bitterness and retaliation. Muslims also know very well that in Tamil Nadu the Dravidian ideological orientation is more consistent with the preservation of their identity,” he adds.

From the political stage, back to the brotherhood on the streets and inside homes enabled by those like Anwar, whose iftar walks has found a phenomenal response inlcuding from the city’s Brahmin community. Anwar gives examples such as mosques which were built in Dravidian architectural style to those in Kilakarai to the Wallajah Mosque in the heart of Chennai built in 1794 during his walks. “This is a symbol of secularism right here,” he says about Wallajah Mosque. “The chronogram inside where the prayers take place was created by a friend of the Nawab (of Arcot), a Hindu officer.”


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