Periyar

Periyar E.V.Ramasamy was a great revolutionary and rationalist of the 20th century. He was born in Erode in Tamilnadu. He is widely regarded as the founder of the Self respect movement and the Dravidian movement. He advocated for gender equality and abolition of casteism and fought against superstitions and social evils prevalent in the society. He is considered the idealogical figurehead of most political parties in Tamilnadu today including the two major Dravidian Parties of DMK and ADMK which were created by a split from Periyar's Dravidar Kazhagam. Periyar refused the post of Chief Minister of Tamilnadu twice offered to him as he did not want to get into electoral politics as he believed that for one to enter vote politics one must compromise on his idealogy which he was not prepared to do. Periyar and his works are very much relevant for the 21st century and he is widely celebrated by youngsters for his forward and futuristic ideas even in this digital era. He is regarded as the Father of Modern Tamilnadu