U. Muthuramalingam Thevar - Legacy

Legacy

The pillars of Thevar's political thought were spiritualism, nationalism, anti-communism, anti-imperialism and non-Congressism (wanting to create a non-Congress political alternative). Although committed to the construction of a federal socialist India, Thevar rejected Marxism-Leninism as a foreign concept and he opposed the trade policy of the Soviet Union as discriminatory towards countries like India. But first and foremost, his animosity towards the communists was due to the rejection of the Indian communists of Subhas Chandra Bose (who they had called a 'quisling'). His relationship to Marxism was further complicated by his spiritualistic orientation.

As an Indian nationalist, Thevar condemned the Dravidar Kazhagam its successor DMK for stimulating separatism and parochialism. Moreover he distrusted the Atheist element of the Dravidian political discourse.

After his death, the Forward Bloc entered into a period of decline in Tamil Nadu. The party leadership was overtaken by Thevar's disciple P.K. Mookiah Thevar. The party organisation became ridden by splits and disputes. In this situation, the major chunk of the Maravar vote-bank of the Forward Bloc was overtaken by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Several official honours have been given to Thevar. In 1968 the Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar College was founded in Usilampatti by the then DMK-led state government. His biography was included in the high school textbooks in Tamil Nadu. In 1971 his cemetery in Pasumpon was converted into an official memorial. A life-size portrait of Thevar was installed in the Tamil Nadu assembly in 1980. In 1984, after the bifurcation of the Ramnad District the 'Pasumpon Muthuramalingam District' was created.

Greenways Road and Chamiers Road, two important arterial roads in Chennai, were renamed after Thevar,and currently there is a statue of Thevar where his eponymous road intersects with Anna Salai. And the one in Mumbai city which connects both western express and eastern express highways to the Mumbai airport the road earlier known as Sion-Mahim link road is renamed after Thevar.

U.Muthuramalingam Thevar is revered as a hero of the Thevar/Maravar community. Thevar was become an icon in the political life in southern Tamil Nadu. Many political parties seeking the support from that community at the time of elections will make pay their respect to him. But at the same time his legacy is not entirely uncontroversial. At times violence between Thevars and Dalits flare up in the area, and desecrations of monuments of Muthuramalinga Thevar have taken place.