| Description | Interview with Vaidy Nathan, a student in Madras. He discusses the formation and activities of the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) in Tamil Nadu, a regional party for the representation of Tamils, the party's secular character, and its attempts to get more representation in government. He discusses concerns that Tamil will die out as a language at the expense of Hindi and Sanskrit, and goes on to talk about aspects of difference between the population of North and South India, people identifying themselves with different ethnic groups, and the influence of language and skin colour. He mentions the acceptance of the Official Languages Act by Congress in the 1960, and the imposition of Hindi as the official language of India, the involvement of the 'landlord' and social elite in politics, and their wish for English to remain an accepted language in India. He discusses his own political activity which was based on his determination to prevent the domination of North India in government, describes his motivation for challenging the dominance of Hindi, and explains how he and other students organised petitions and demonstrations to praise Tamil culture, and protested against the refusal of the Chief Minister to meet them. He comments on the views of his teacher that the students should protest in non-violent ways, and the development of the student movement to campaign for the DMK, mainly in order to oppose the dominance of Congress. He explains the reasons for his radicalisation and disillusionment with the DMK because their policies were similar to Congress, joining a different college and being selected to go to Delhi for the Gandhi centenary and discussing ideas with other students, some of whom held more Socialist views. He talks about coming into contact with members of the Communist Party India (Marxist) when the party was a partner in an alliance formed by DMK, and the development of his political ideology and association with the Left movement. He talks about having discussions with students from other parts of India, particularly Calcutta, and learning about their political beliefs and Bengali culture (tracks 1-13).
Total: 33.06 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF549C0134180 |