The Tamil Nadu textbook board is removing caste surnames of eminent Tamil scholars from the textbooks to ostensibly abolish the so-called caste system. The Tamil Nadu Textbook Board Corporation has as per media reports removed the Jati surname name of Tamil scholar, U Ve Swaminatha Iyer in the Tamil textbooks for Class XII students and has referred to him simply as U V Swaminathar.

UV Swaminatha Iyer who is revered as Tamil Thantha (grand old scholar of Tamil) due to his yeoman service to Tamil literature, has now been renamed by the ‘woke’ so-called social reformers to fit into their box of ‘modernism’.

In the lesson ‘ Pandaiya kalathu pallikoodangal’ by Saminatha Iyer is referred to as U.Ve. Saminathar
(Source: The Hindu)

Similarly Swaminathan Iyer’s Guru, the great Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai’s name has been changed to Meenakshi Sundaranar. Similarly, ‘Pillai’ surname has been removed from the first eminent Tamil novelist, Mayavaram Vedanayagam Pillai, other Tamil scholars like CW Thamotharam Pillai, Ramalingam Pillai who are mentioned in textbook lessons.

PMK Founder Ramadoss: Removing Caste Surnames Of Achievers Is Erasing Identity

The PMK founder, Dr S Ramadoss criticised this development and said, deleting ‘caste’ surnames of eminent scholars from school textbooks would only result in erasing their identities.

Ramadoss said that only creating equality among people would usher in social reforms, rather than this artificial move of trying to remove surnames of eminent people which only erodes their identities and does not help in bringing about social change.

He said that central and state governments are using measures like reservations in employment and education to ensure social equality. But tampering with the names of eminent personalities should be avoided. He said, the move to drop surnames only shows lack of understanding of the issue.

He controversially added according to The Hindu, “There is nothing wrong in dropping the surname of ordinary people. But exemptions should continue to be given to caste surnames of achievers, as there is a risk of erasing their identities”.

What About Removing Upper Caste Surnames, Ashraf, Pathan, Saeed, Khan & Titles Like Nawab?

It is a canard that there is no caste system among Muslims or Christians. The huge majority of Pasmanda Muslims, ‘lower caste’ converts to Islam are discriminated against by the ‘upper caste’ Muslim converts in Indian sub-continent with ‘upper caste’ Surnames ranging from Ashraf, Sayed, Sheikh etc and the Pathans who trace their lineage from ruling dynasties of Afghanistan.

These ‘upper caste’ surnames of Muslims are celebrated by the so-called social reformist political parties like the DMK / DK, Congress, Leftists, etc.

The Muslim leadership in India is hogged entirely by these upper-class converts to Islam and pandered to by our pseudo-secular political class. None of the worthies ever demand the abolition of these upper-class Islamic surnames from textbooks, names of roads, hospitals, educational institutions etc.

Is so-called social reform only applied for Hindus? Or are these exercises just a garb to attack Hindus, Hindu traditions and Hindu culture? What about the usage of titles like ‘Nawab’ in a democratic republic?

No political party nor the judiciary has any problem when Central government and State government allowed Mohammed Abdul Ali to use the title, ‘Prince of Arcot’ because he is a ‘Nawab’ in Indian democracy! Pertinently, the Constitution provides for ‘Abolition of Titles’ under Article 18 as a fundamental right.

It is secular to be silent about having caste discrimination and feudal Titles among Muslims eh?

So is the case with Christians, does not surnames like Potter, Butcher, Butler, Smith, etc denote the caste-system among Christians? Why is it okay to have profession surnames along blood lines among Christians?

Why is the Church administration dominated only by non-Dalit converts to Christianity? There is an agitation in Tamil Nadu where Dalit Christians are protesting against appointment of non-Dalit Bishop for Salem diocese, which has a majority of Dalit-Christians.

Conclusion

The thousands of crores of rupees spent by governments to provide exclusive scholarships for minorities is largely cornered by the upper caste Muslims and Christians. The money also provides an impetus for conversion of many poor so-called “upper caste” Hindus who get no aid from government for education.

Possibly, MK Stalin, who borrows his name from Russian communist mass murderer, might even remove Gandhi surname from MK Gandhi’s name in school textbooks!

Notably, many Muslim converts in Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and even in Pakistan retain their Brahmin and Kshatriya surnames like Tickoo, Mattoo, Kaul, Chaudhari, Bajwa, Chauhan, etc.

So, the so-called social reform seeking compulsory removal of Varna and Jati based surnames for Hindus is actually a mechanism to create a feeling of self-loathing among Hindus.

Unfortunately, many well meaning Hindus are falling into the trap of Hindu hating communists and Abrahamics to straight jacket Sanatan Dharma instead of celebrating its myriad cultures, traditions and inbuilt egalitarianism.

Image sourced from internet.

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