TN to observe Periyar’s birth anniversary as Day of Social Justice

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Tamil Nadu government has decided to celebrate the birth anniversary of reformist leader E V Ramasamy Periyar “Social Justice Day”.

About:

• E V Ramasamy Periyar was born on September 17. This day will now be celebrated as ‘Social Justice Day’ every year.
• Periyar’s ideology was all about social justice, equality, self-respect, and rationalism. This laid the foundation stone for Tamil society’s growth during the last century. These ideologies would also pave way for the future. Thus, the government decided to celebrate his birth anniversary every year to celebrate the symbolic reinforcement of his egalitarian principles.

How this day will be celebrated?

Every year, on September 17, employees in all government offices and State Secretariat will take pledges to follow values on the basis of such lofty ideals comprising of equality, brotherhood, self-respect and rationalism.

Contribution of E V Periyar

According to the Chief Minister, services of Periyar to the Tamil society were significant and instrumental in the enactment of first Constitutional Amendment Act, which safeguarded reservation for backward classes.

Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy Periyar (EV Ramasamy Periyar)

He was commonly known as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar. He was an Indian social activist and politician. He started Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam and is known as the ‘Father of the Dravidian movement’. He rebelled against the Brahmanical dominance as well as gender & caste inequality in Tamil Nadu.

Periyar and INC

E.V. Ramasamy joined the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1919, but resigned in 1925 after he realised that INC was only serving the interests of Brahmins. In 1924, he participated in non-violent agitation (satyagraha) at Vaikom, Travancore. He became the head of the Justice Party in 1939 and changed its name to Dravidar Kazhagam in 1944