‘BJP is using Tamil as a weapon to fool people’: Su. Venkatesan

The Madurai MP talks about the Modi government’s ill-treatment of Tamil Nadu, issues such as language politics and educational initiatives, and more.

Su. Venkatesan, incumbent MP and CPI(M) candidate for the Madurai Lok Sabha constituency, has consistently drawn attention to issues of State rights, Hindi imposition, tax devolution, and so on in Parliament. | Photo Credit: ASHOK R

Why is the BJP excessively keen on attracting Tamil voters this time? The question grows louder with every visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the State ahead of the Lok Sabha election and his attempts to portray himself as an admirer of the Tamil language and culture. Madurai Lok Sabha MP Su. Venkatesan of the CPI(M), who has consistently drawn attention to issues of State rights, Hindi imposition, tax devolution, and so on in the Lok Sabha told Frontline, “The BJP is using Tamil as a weapon to fool people, but they do not understand to what extend it is an act of insulting the Tamil people.”

Venkatesan, a Sahitya Akademi Award-winning writer and honorary presidency of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association, is running for a second term in the Lok Sabha from the temple city.

Recently, when his political opponents stuck posters in Madurai reading “Kanda Vara Sollunga” (If you see him [the MP], ask him to come), Venkatesan went a step ahead, posed next to one of them, and uploaded it on X with the caption: “I’m waiting.” But the opposition did not back down. The AIADMK candidate in Madurai made a jibe at Venkatesan pretending to use binoculars to try and find development projects brought by the MP. Speaking of the incident, Venkatesan told Frontline: “If they have criticism that is noteworthy, I can respond to them. Their inability to raise important questions is their weakness.” Excerpts:

In one of his latest campaign speeches in Tamil Nadu, the Prime Minister said it worried him that Tamil is not his mother tongue. Besides, the BJP has been organising the “Kashi Tamil Sangamam” since 2022. What is the BJP’s contribution to Tamil development?

They use Tamil as a weapon to fool people, but do not understand to what extent it is an act of insulting Tamil people. The BJP made the Archaeological Survey of India [ASI] put out an authoritative report saying the Keeladi archeological site has no more significant findings. Keeladi means a lot to the Tamil language, culture, and society. Until recently, it even refused to release the report on Keeladi.

In the last nine years, since 2014, the Union government allotted Rs.74 crore for Tamil language and Rs.1,488 crore for Sanskrit. Sanskrit is their political and ideological objective. The BJP openly announced in Parliament that Sanskrit is the mother of all languages in the world. But they know that they have to seek votes from Tamil-, Malayalam-, and Telugu-speaking people, so they say such things at election time.

You have written and spoken about Keeladi a lot. How important is the archaeological site to Indian history? At what stage is the excavation process right now?

By getting past so many obstacles, we have brought Keeladi to an important place where it is today. It is not a victory of one single person but of the entire Tamil society. After the ASI announced that there was nothing more to explore and exited the site, we made the Tamil Nadu government [both AIADMK and DMK] work further in Keeladi. To visualise the study and work done there, a museum has been set up. The report produced by Amarnath Ramakrishnan [Superintending Archaeologist, ASI] in the first two years was extremely crucial, which they [the BJP] delayed releasing as much as they could. Now the Centre has agreed to publish it in nine months. When it comes out, the ancientness and importance of Tamil history in Indian history will be authoritatively established.

Keeladi, which is explored more through scientific findings, stands completely opposite to Indian history that is dated back only to the Ganges civilisation, the Vedic period that is put forth as singular history, and the politics built around it today. Keeladi, by establishing proof of a civilisation that thrived 2,700 years ago, its literacy, forms of entertainment, and cultural values, brings out the historical uniqueness and secular characteristics of Tamil society. The Tamil Nadu government, in its 2024-25 Budget, announced that an open-air museum will be constructed in Keeladi at a cost of Rs.17 crore. Next year marks the 10th year of excavation. The excavations should go on for 25 more years so that new findings and new facts will be established.

The education loan melas you organise in Madurai have become a big hit. Last month you announced that Madurai has emerged as the second city after Mumbai to sanction the highest number of education loans, by both private and public sector banks, in the country. Where did you get the idea and motivation to propel this plan?

When T. Udhayachandran was the District Collector of Erode, he arranged education loans to the tune of Rs.100 crore. It became a huge event in Tamil Nadu. I was aware of the tremendous back-end efforts that went into the initiative. Plus, I am a Member of the Committee on Education in Parliament. Our committee also reviews education loans. Once when we were reviewing the loans from Maharashtra, I found that Mumbai had a loan sanctioning rate of over 90 per cent. No other city in India had such a percentage. I came back to Madurai, informed the Collector, arranged for a bankers meeting, and enquired about the loans sanctioned so far. It was in the range of Rs.35-40 crore a year.

We decided to conduct an “Education Loan Mela” with the coordination of the education department, school education, college education, district education, and bankers. We achieved Rs.99 crore worth loans in the first year. Once we had the template, we continuously pursued and realised Rs.119 crore [2021-22], Rs.125 crore [2022-23], Rs.168 crore [2023-24]. I informed the stakeholders at the bankers’ review meeting that I would never ask them how many loans the banks approved but I would review the application forms turned down to see if they were rejected based on norms. As a result, next to Mumbai, Madurai has emerged as a city with the highest education loan sanction percentage in the country. Even private banks which stayed away from the education loan mela, came around later. This is a huge milestone. Only less than 10 per cent of the total loan application forms get rejected now. In our review, we found that last year [2022-23] the education loans sanctioned in Madurai district alone were higher than the total education loans sanctioned in the six north-eastern States, excluding Assam.

We also introduced collateral-free education loans in Tamil Nadu. If a student gets selected in the top 150 educational institutions of the world, they need not produce any collateral. A couple of students from marginalised families have used it to go abroad and study.

Su. Venkatesan along with Tamil Nadu IT Minister P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan during the Lok Sabha election campaign at Simmakkal in Madurai. | Photo Credit: ASHOK R

Despite repeated demands, why does the Union government not grant international status to Madurai airport?

Be it the issue of giving international status to Madurai airport or the matter of AIIMS or Keeladi, Madurai is still a part of Tamil Nadu. Treating Tamil Nadu [as a whole] with a stepmotherly attitude is the reason. The number of international passengers who use Madurai airport is twice the number of passengers who use Varanasi airport [in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency]. But Varanasi airport has an international status. We have even presented the numbers in Parliament. The economic viability of Madurai airport is also higher than several other airports that have international status in the country.

This is solely because of political reasons. For example, this is the only AIIMS in the country to be constructed with funds borrowed from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). What can be even said to justify these actions? The Union government looks at giving things to Tamil Nadu as something bitter. Hence, they enable as many hurdles and delays, and hesitate to implement programmes for the State.

Madurai has seen tall communist leaders like K.P. Janaki Ammal, Sankaraiah, and K. Leelavathi. In one of your speeches, you mention how the communist tradition of Madurai is rooted in Tamil culture. But today, the influence of Dravidian parties in the region has increased manifold. What is the Left doing to reclaim that space?

Even today Madurai remains a traditionally communist field. As an MP, if I am able to accomplish these many things, the space for it is created by the impact of Left politics and the existing structure of Left organisations. Our victories are possible only because of hundreds of comrades working in the background of every initiative.

There are also other political movements that are seeing a rise organically. We contemporise ourselves and are growing into a movement for the new generations. There is a need for traditional approaches and modernity to meet. We are transforming Madurai as a place where this convergence happens.

Last month, the BJP announced the notification of rules to implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). What kind of impact will it have on the public with the general election around the corner?

It creates anxiety and shock about their condition among all minorities, particularly Muslims. CAA has opened an opportunity for everyone to collectively raise questions on it. It is completely hate politics. Because of this hate politics, there will be reactions from the Muslim community and there will be counter-reactions to it, and naturally it will push the public discourse into the BJP’s communal agenda, which it uses for its vote bank politics.

Has becoming a Member of Parliament hindered your writing work?

I have not written any fiction in the last five years. Along with the roles and responsibilities of being an MP in the Modi regime, specifically in the 17th Lok Sabha, there isn’t a single day when you can walk out of Parliament without having the feeling of guilt because of the kind of laws that are passed in the House. It is to such an extent that mental and political crises have been created across the country. I must pay attention to the hour’s need.

Secondly, when it comes to working on literature, it is not about writing every day, every week, or every year. I took 10 years to write my first novel and 10 more for the next. Everything that happens now helps in accumulating experiences for a writer. We will know how it turns out as a literary work only after it is done. But it will happen.