Chennai: Members of right wing organisations, Hindu Munnani and the ABVP, opposed the talk on ‘Periyar and Islam’ organized by the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy in association with the Department of Sociology at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
Police foiled the protestor's bid to enter the university during the talk as they demanded the cancellation of the talk alleging that ‘some anti-nationals were using the university as a platform to spread anti-national ideologies.
Police kept the university gates closed and allowed no one to enter after the talk began but the programme was wrapped up an hour after it began following the requests from police and university authorities.
Professor S Samuel Asir Raj, Director of the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, announced that he had received a phone call to end this talk.
The talk was delivered by Riyaz Ahamed, Association Editor of Puthiya Vidiyal magazine. He said Periyar had opposed some superstitions adopted by the Muslim community.
“Many people had given up those practices after listening to Periyar’s speeches who supported remarriage of women, and opposed the wearing of burkha,” Riyaz said.
E V Ramasamy, who is fondly called ‘Thanthai Periyar’, was a leader who fought for the upliftment of backward classes in Tamil Nadu. He, being an atheist, propagated principles of rationalism through his movement Dravidar Kazhagam.
Periyar’s inclination towards Islam started from 1923 to 1973 and his efforts were to eradicate social discrimination.
“Though Periyar has changed his stand in various issues at times, he supported the principles of Islam”, Riyaz said.
“He supported Islam because it is a religion that believes God created the man, Riyaz said and added Periyar's collected works in the 20 volumes ‘Periyar E Ve Ra Sindhanaigal’ gives ample indication of his respect towards Islam.
Periyar had his opinion on whether changing of religion affected the person's image and held the view that one’s caste discrimination will change if they convert from one religion to another.
Professor S Samuel Asir Raj told the students, that from the very first day he was facing opposition since he planned this programme, and he feels unhappy to wrap up the event abruptly without holding any discussion on the subject.
[Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com]
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