Cattle slaughter restrictions: Centre’s perceived 'beef ban' has reignited a secessionist movement in South India

Dravida Nadu, a hypothetical sovereign state for Tamil-speaking south Indians, was first introduced into Indian politics in the late 1930s, when the Justice Party, led by Periyar EV Ramaswamy and his politically and emotionally charged followers, argued for it.

Dravida Nadu, and the movement for it, draws its roots from the anti-Brahminism movement in Tamil Nadu. Though the early demands of this movement were limited to social equality and greater power and control, over time, it came to include a separatist movement, demanding a sovereign state for the Tamil people.

Initially, the demand was limited to forming a Tamil-speaking region. However, as the movement gained support, it expanded to include other Indian states with Dravidian-language speakers in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and even some parts of Sri Lanka, Orissa and Maharashtra.

Even though the Dravida Nadu movement reached its height with anti-Hindi and anti-Brahmin protests in the 1940s and 1960s, there were not many takers for it later on as the then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, declared secessionism an illegal act in 1963.

Now, five decades later, with the Central government amending animal welfare rules to regulate cattle trade , a spark has been rekindled in the Dravida Nadu movement – at least on social media.

The new ordinance brought in by the Centre made cattle sale for slaughter in animal markets illegal, irking Left parties and the larger Dravidian lot in the south.

Leading the resistance, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan urged his counterparts to raise their voice against the restrictions on cattle trade, saying that the Centre’s “anti-federal, anti-democratic and anti-secular move” is an attempt to usurp power from the state governments.

In a letter to his counterparts, he said that the ban would affect the livelihood of millions of people, especially those in the farming sector.

Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Centre and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vijayan said he did not need a “lesson in food habits from New Delhi or Nagpur”.

“The state government will give all facilities to people to have food of their choice. There is no need for Keralites to learn it from anybody in New Delhi or Nagpur.” The RSS is headquartered in Nagpur.

Interestingly, inspired by Vijayan’s move, pro-Dravida Nadu thinkers have reignited their ‘dreams’. The hashtag #DravidaNadu was trending on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.

A Dravida Nadu proponent, who is spearheading the movement on social media  and goes by the name Comrade Nambiar on Twitter, said that it is not a new thing.

“Dravida Nadu was something I tweeted about along with other folks under United Southern Democratic Republics (USDR). The ‘beef ban’ started a surge of sub-nationalism and became viral,” Nambiar said, adding that in Kerala, the stand is not that of separation and secession but more of federation and decentralisation.

“The Kerala chief minister has managed to put himself on the offensive against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, in Tamil Nadu, the dynamics are much more different and the reactions to whatever Delhi doles out are seen with an imperialist lens,” he added.

Another supporter of the movement on Twitter said that Dravida Nadu is only now being taken as a “serious” notion. “Until recently, it was at best a flippant joke. Now that the idea is being tested, the notion of Dravida Nadu is coming up as more than a joke.”

However, he added that it is incorrect to attribute specific events like the ‘beef ban’ as the reasons behind the social churn.

“The angst against a belligerent Central government has been building up and events like the Jallikattu ban and now the ‘beef ban’ have catalysed the anger. Ideas like Dravida Nadu are an expression of that anger,” he said, adding that Vijayan has awakened a lot of people and reminded them of the federalism enshrined in the Constitution.

Another Dravida Nadu supporter, who goes by the name Puli Aarasan , said that ‘beef ban’ has triggered this recent Dravida Nadu call. However, he added that even though Dravida Nadu might have its own linguistic, cultural, political differences, Delhi can break this coalition in a matter of days.

Meanwhile, Sanal Mohan P, an associate professor at the School of Social Sciences in Mahatma Gandhi University, said that the Dravida Nadu theory was not very powerful in Kerala for a variety of historical reasons, although terms such as Dravidian and others were put into different uses right from the early twentieth century.

“Unlike the Tamil region, the modern politics in Kerala articulated a different set of issues. However, if we go by the history of social movements in Kerala, I think it was the castes below the Ezhavas in the hierarchy that used terms such as Dravida. The classic case is that of the movement of Sabha Raj which is referred to as DCUF (Dravida Class United Front), which is a Dalit organisation,” Sanal said.

According to Sanal, Dravida Nadu is not a secessionist movement. “Often Dravidian parties become champions of orthodoxy which among others include complete allegiance to the dominant nationalism in India. Sometimes it is very much majoritarianism. It is a positive and righteous movement as the idea is to restore the autonomy of food culture,” he added.

The professor said that the responses induced by the perceived beef ban are of a different order. “What we are witnessing is the resistance to a Brahmanic mode of belonging to the nation. Therefore, it is necessary to resist it. However, what is required is a different set of ideas that would help rework the idea of the nation,” the professor said, adding that beef eating was also an issue of class and caste.

Already in India, 18 states have banned the slaughter of cattle. Three states require permits for the slaughter of cattle and seven states allow cattle to be killed. On Tuesday, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court stayed the Centre’s ordinance regulating cattle sale in an interim order. The court, issuing notices to state and central governments, directed them to offer their replies in four weeks.

Within hours of the court order, Sooraj R, a researcher at IIT Madras, was reportedly abused physically for taking part in a beef festival organised in the campus on Tuesday. On Wednesday, his alleged attacker, Manish Kumar, too was admitted to the hospital, following an alleged attack by the union that Sooraj belonged to. Students at IIT Madras have been protesting in and outside campus since Wednesday morning.