Ramaswamy Naicker: Influential Leader in Indian Social and Political Reform

‘Ramaswamy Naicker'
● Ramaswamy Naicker, popularly known as E. V. Periyar, was born on September 17, 1879 in Western Erode, Tamil Nadu, into an affluent, orthodox Hindu Balija caste.
● He was a strong supporter of atheism and led the anti-Brahmin movement.
● Ramaswamy Naicker is considered to be the inventor of the anti-caste movement and Dravidian identity.
● His political career started as a Congress worker. He is considered as the father of the self-respect movement of the year 1925.
● Ramaswamy Naicker was an activist of the Justice Party and later founded the Dravida Kazhagam.
● He opposed Hindi and North Indian supremacy.
● He propounded the view that 'North Indian people and Brahmins are different Aryas from Dravidians'.
● He died on 24 December 1973 at the age of 94 in Vellore, Tamil Nadu.