Chennai: While Tamil actor Kasthuri Shankar’s arrest over her remarks against Telugu people has put the focus on the community in Tamil Nadu, historians in the state are saying that the actor made exaggerated claims for her own political reasons.
The actor, known for her roles in South Indian films, including Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu, such as Vadacurry (2014), Indian (1996), and Thamizh Padam (2010), was arrested Saturday by the Chennai police in Hyderabad. Causing much controversy, Shankar had asked why Brahmins are not considered Tamils when Telugu-speaking people are. She had also reportedly said that the community was connected to ‘courtesans who served the kings’.
At an event organised on 3 November by Right-wing outfit Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) for “legal protection for Brahmins”, she claimed that the Tamil film industry had denied her roles because she is a Brahmin. She was arrested two days after the Madurai bench of Madras High Court dismissed her plea for anticipatory bail.
“When Telugu people, who came to serve the women of kings 300 years ago, claim to be Tamils, who are you to say Brahmins who came long ago aren’t Tamils? This is why they cannot call themselves ‘Tamilargal Munnetra Kazhagam’ and found a term called Dravidians instead,” she said. Her comments had sparked widespread outrage in the state with parties including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) condemning it.
“Tamil Nadu has a politics where Brahmins are targeted for every issue,” Tamil Nadu-based historian Stalin Rajangam told ThePrint adding that the actor was trying to counter it by attacking Telugu-speaking people instead.
Following a complaint from the All India Telugu Federation, the case was registered at Chennai’s F2 Egmore Police Station on 6 November under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 192 (inciting riot), 196(1)(a) (promoting enmity between groups), 353(1)(b) (spreading false information), and 353(2) (spreading false information that can incite violence).
Shankar had actively campaigned during the 2024 Lok Sabha election for the BJP. The party has slammed the ruling DMK for being anti-Brahmin several times in the state.
“What Kasthuri said is baseless and shows women of Andhra Pradesh in a poor light,” writer and historian B Meenakshi Sundaram, told ThePrint.
He said the Telugu and Kannada-speaking people contributed a lot to the development of Tamil Nadu.
Telugu community of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu saw its first exodus of Telugu migrants after the Vijayanagara Empire captured Madurai in 1371. Following the conquest, the land was given to the Telugu dynasty, the Madurai Nayaks, for governance.
“By the name as Madurai Nayakas, they ruled from 1529 AD to 1736 AD for 207 years in the Madurai region. At that time, Tamil country was divided into three Nayakships of Madurai, Senji, and Tanjavur instead of Rajyas,” wrote S Rajagopal, assistant professor at the Madurai-based Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College, in his 2019 study named Military potential of Madurai Nayakas from 1566 to 1623 AD.
Following the establishment of the Kingdom, the Tamil region saw the migration of several Telugu-speaking communities from Andhra regions, Stalin said, adding that they hold significant influence in Tamil Nadu’s politics, cinema, and business.
“But, we can’t generalise and assume that all of them are influential. There are hierarchy and division within the community too,” Stalin said. He said the population includes dominant and land-owning castes such as Naidu, Naikars and Reddys and also Sakkiliyars, a Scheduled Caste group.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)
Kasthuri Shankar should not have dragged the Telugu people into this issue. They have nothing to do with regressive Dravidian politics.
However, her statement on Tamil Brahmins is true indeed. They have been blamed for anything and everything. Being a Brahmin in Tamil Nadu is a curse. One gets humiliated, insulted, intimidated and even physically attacked. Dravidian politics has to be the most regressive brand of politics India has ever seen. Their hatred and contempt for Brahmins is unbelievable.