Periyar E. V. Ramasamy - Principles and Legacy

Principles and Legacy

Periyar spent over fifty years giving speeches, propagating the realisation that everyone is an equal citizen and the differences on basis of caste and creeds were man-made to keep the innocent and ignorant as underdogs in the society. Although Periyar's speeches were targeted towards the illiterate and more mundane mass, scores of educated people were also swayed. Periyar viewed reasoning as a special tool. According to him, all were blessed with his tool but very few used it. Thus Periyar used reasoning, with respect to subjects of social interest, in his presentations to his audience. Communal differences in Tamil society were considered by many to be deep-rooted features until Periyar came to the scene.

Cho Ramaswamy remarked in India Today:

"Periyar was accepted and acclaimed as the leader by a significant section of the Tamil population in spite of all his contempt for Tamil and disdain for Tamils only because he was perceived to be a genuine individual, a rarity among those in public life. There was no shade of hypocrisy in him and he never attempted sophistry while propounding his social philosophy."