Language chauvinism, like any other kind, has its inbuilt contradictions. This has become evident from the difficulties being faced by actor Kamal Haasan after claiming Kannada is born out of the Tamil language. Fellow chauvinists in Karnataka, who have thus far been targeting Hindi speakers from north India, have turned on him and are threatening a boycott of his latest movies. Haasan remains unapologetic, as he claims his statement was motivated by ‘love’ for Kannada.
It is a fact that, in pandering to local Tamil politics, Haasan has over the years frittered away his standing as a national icon. Perhaps it is because, despite his enormous talent as an actor and having won numerous awards, he could not succeed as he would have liked to in Bollywood. As a result, he has succumbed to the identity politics of the DMK, which seeks to establish an artificial divide between Tamil Nadu, its people, and the rest of India, in particular the states of the north. This approach is based on a retelling of history based on ‘Dravidian ethnicity’, which is more an invention than a reality. Intermixed with the ‘social justice’ philosophy of Periyar that manifested itself more as an anti-Brahmin movement (similar to antisemitism) than the ‘self-respect’ movement it claimed to be, it is today another ‘feudal’ entity furthering the political ambitions of the ‘Stalins’.
Ironically, considering Haasan’s brahmin lineage, his political and social positions have become increasingly controversial over the years, a recent one being his claim that the Cholas were ‘not Hindus’. He is expected to be become a Rajya Sabha member with the DMK’s support, hence India is going to hear more of such amateur distortions of history.
It should be realised that the boundaries of present-day Tamil Nadu came into being only after Independence, and it is ridiculous to create divisions along those lines with the rest of India. As one who comes from the film industry has Haasan forgotten that some of the most prominent makers of Hindi movies in the early years of cinema were based in (then) Madras? The princely states of what constitutes the new entity were greatly integrated culturally and had family ties with the rest of India. The Kannadigas, who are inclined these days to adopt the anti-Hindi chauvinism of the DMK, should realise the pitfalls of such thinking – a taste of which has been given by Haasan’s statement. Learn from the Gujarati Prime Minister and Home Minister – they rule India today because they had no problems with learning Hindi!
