MADURAI
India should establish museums on caste oppression meted out to downtrodden communities for centuries, said Poongothai Aladi Aruna, former DMK Minister, here on Friday.
Releasing the book Nadar Varalaru Karuppa? Kaaviya? (Is the history of Nadars black or saffron?)’ written by advocate T. Lajapathi Roy, she said that such museums were necessary to remind the society about its past so that it was not repeated in future.
She said that many countries had museums on the oppression faced by its people. “There are holocaust museums in many European countries, apartheid museums in the US. Cambodia has a museum on the atrocities committed by its dictator Pol Pot,” she said.
Stating that the Nadar community faced the worst caste-based oppression, particularly in the erstwhile State of Travancore, S. P. Udayakumar, coordinator, People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy, stressed the need for taking this history to the present generation. “As the author of the book explains, the idea is not to praise or insult any community. Reminding this history is a fundamental duty to ensure that it is not repeated,” he said.
Human rights activist A. Marx said that Hindutva forces were attempting to erase such history and bring communities like that of Nadars under its fold. “The author raises an important question on how Hindutva is growing among such communities. This is a grave danger the Indian society is facing today,” he said.
Film director Karu. Palaniappan said it was unfortunate that those who had grown socio-economically because of the social justice movement in Tamil Nadu were now accusing it. “Such a history of oppression was not faced just by the Nadar community alone, but by most other communities in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Pointing to the attempts made to cancel the book release function, advocate Prabhu Rajadurai, said that generally fascist forces were afraid of books.
Film director Ameer said that Muslims in the country did not even have the right to voice legitimate criticism since they had a stamp of their religious identity.