Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy, revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was a social activist who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'Father of the Dravidian movement'. His 144th birth anniversary was observed as ‘Day of Social Justice’ in Tamil Nadu yesterday (September 17).
Though Periyar, who is considered one of the greatest reformist leaders across the globe and revered by his followers, some hate him. Dr. Karthick Ram Manoharan speaks to RaySel about Periyar’s contributions to the upliftment of people and answers to the criticism levelled against him.
Karthick is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the University of Wolverhampton where he is working on the political thought of Periyar E.V. Ramasamy. This research is funded by the European Union. His monograph Periyar: A Study in Political Atheism has recently been published by Orient BlackSwan and he is the author of Frantz Fanon: Identity and Resistance (Orient BlackSwan 2019) and the co-editor of Rethinking Social Justice (Orient BlackSwan 2020).
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