It’s a serious blow to the Dravidian stock that has been pushing Aryan and Dravidian race theory in school education in Tamil Nadu. Madras High Court’s today’s order would nail a false narrative of Dravidian stocks repeated Aryan invasion and Dravidian race theory to fool the public. It has directed NCERT, Tamil Nadu school education, and TNSCRET to review the school curriculum and resolve the matter within 12 weeks.
Balaji Mahalingam moved Madras High Court seeking issuance of a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents to stop propagating the Dravidian race theory, particularly among the student community and tender an apology to the general public. He said currently, textbooks are teaching Aryan Dravidian race theory, which causes division among citizens.
Chief Justice KR Shriram and Justice Senthil Kumar Ramamoorthy, after hearing both sides, delivered an order on October 24. In the seven-page order, the court said, ‘the petitioner canvasses a grievance that educational authorities are propagating the false theory that there are two races, i.e., Aryan and Dravidian, and that this is prompting divisiveness among the people. The party-in-person relies upon the writings of various scholars to contend that this two-race theory is false and would cause substantial harm to impressionable minds.
The bench said, ‘The court is not an expert in history or the origin of races. The relief requested for by the petitioner cannot be granted by this court without examining and deciding whether the two-race theory, which the petitioner claims to be false, is valid or invalid. It is appropriate that this determination be made by experts in the field and not by the court’.
The Court said, ‘Consequently, without examining or making any observations on the merits of the assertions made in the petition, we direct respondents 2 and 5, Director, NCERT and Director State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), to retreat the writ petition as a representation sent to them. Respondents 2 and 5 shall consider the grievance ventilated by the petitioner in the writ petition and dispose of the same within 12 weeks, after providing a reasonable opportunity to the petitioner, including by way of personal hearing.
The bench said with this order, ‘writ petition is disposed of accordingly. There shall be no order as to costs’. Let us see what Historians say about this so-called Aryan Dravidian theory: In an article titled ‘Colonial Roots of the Aryan Invasion/Migration Theory and the Contemporary Archaeological Evidence in Western Sources’, the authors mention quoting William Jones, who said, ‘With the rise in the imperial power of Europe over India, the cradle of civilization began to shift outside India and ultimately landed in Europe’.
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