Tamil Nadu politicos encourage youth in the state to be insular and xenophobic and to think that the rest of the world is against them. This has caused them to hate without just reason as can be seen in the recent #GoBackModi Twitter campaign
Last week, during his speech at the United Nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled the resonant words of Tamil poet Kanian Poongondranar, “yaadhum oore, yaavarum kelir”, which means “we belong to all places, and to everyone”.
The point of that line is universal brotherhood and love.
Today too, after landing in Chennai to attend the convocation function of IIT Madras, the Prime Minister talked of his reference to the immortal line of Poongondranar and also of the hoary heritage of Tamil as it is one of the oldest languages in the world.
Even if one were to discount Modi’s reference to the Sangam era poet’s words as done for political effect to douse the fire of controversy that had engulfed the state of Tamil Nadu after Union home minister Amit Shah’s loaded speech that Hindi can be one unifying language of India, still some slack should be cut for the Prime Minister, especially for highlighting the greatness of Tamil at the global stage.
As it happened, rather than being grateful to the Prime Minister for invoking Tamil, a section of Tamil Nadu has got down to trend on Twitter platform the churlish hashtag: #GoBackModi.
What is that those who were trying to garner the headlines with that horrendous hashtag want to prove? What is the purpose of this keyboard protest?
There are no easy answers. Heck, there are no answers actually.
It is no secret that there is a discernible anti-BJP mood in Tamil Nadu. Well, the state voted overwhelmingly in favour of the alliance that was pitted against the NDA.
That is fine. That is how democracy works.
But that result of the NDA has made many in the state feel like the boy in class who stands up to the teacher’s authority.
To start off, it can be seen as a show of rousing bravura. But when the boy keeps repeating his act, he will be seen as brattish bully.
The people behind the motivated campaign of #GoBackModi are nothing more than troublesome twats as they resort to this every time the Prime Minister visits the state.
There is nothing specific to this senseless campaign. There is one particular agenda to the shameful event. They are not against any policy of the Centre. They are against the Centre. They are against Modi, in particular.
It is not a rule that all should take the side of the Prime Minister or the Central government at all times. But there has to be a purpose to any campaign. For whatever reason, you cannot keep shouting Go back.
After all, Modi is not coming to Tamil Nadu for his personal work. He is the democratically elected Prime Minister of the country. And he is here in the state on official work. If you don’t want him to work to carry out his duties, he is not the loser, the state and its people are.
Of late, there is this worrying tendency in Tamil Nadu to protest anything from the Centre.
There are issues that the Tamil Nadu people can feel aggrieved about with the Centre. But rather than presenting its case cogently and cohesively, Tamil Nadu acts extremely emotional like a child whose toy has just been taken away. It reflects a disturbing lack of maturity. The state also suffers from a heightened sense of self-importance and sense of victimhood. Tamil Nadu politicos are feeding this tendency, especially among the youth, who are encouraged to be insular and xenophobic, and think that the rest of the world is ranged against them.
In the event, the state is now being seen by outsiders as being conceited and petulant.
Tamil Nadu cannot blame anybody else but itself for this disturbing state of affairs. Anything good or bad happening to one is because of oneself. As they say in Tamil, theethum nandrum pirar thara vara. This, of course, was also famously said by Kanian Poongondranar.
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