My Salute to a Living Legend I Santhakumar

I Santhakumar

Dr.Dharam Veer.IAS is my friend, philosopher and guide. I am lucky to have a relationship with such a great man. Mr. Sudakaran IAS had introduced him to me in 1982 that an IAS officer from Meerat had joined as Sub Collector. Thus I went and met him at the Collectorate, Trivandrum. A handsome young enthusiastic, fascinated me at the very first sight. He was the officer-in-charge of allotting cement due to severe shortage. He told me that he had added one column in the application form viz. whether belong to SC/ST so as to give preference to them as a constitutional right. He said, for the last thousands of years these people are left uncared, it is our bounden duty to safeguard their interests. Thus, the doors of hope for a long relationship for intellectual discourses opened to me forever. He is highly intellectual with insight. He is a great lover of books. Actually, he is not reading the books but learning the books. He became a role model for me. He encouraged me to write and publish a book. This led to renew my relationship with Mr.NRS Babu, Editor Kalakaumudi and to publish so many articles.

I became a family friend of Dr. Dharam Veer. His wife and children used to visit my family and maintained a good harmonious relationship. His friends at Delhi became friends of me also. Very often, I found the qualities and decorum of Dr.Ambedkar in him. Whenever I met him in his house we continue the discussion for hours on the historical, cultural and religious aspects of Dalits. I made it recorded in a separate note book immediately after returning home. He is the propounder of a new religion to Dalits by redefining the Ajivaka, a contemporary religion of Buddhism and Jainism. He is of the opinion that Ambedkar could have embraced Ajivikas instead of Buddhism, as it was the religion of working class. He proved that Kabir was an Ajivika, Ambedkar's parents were Ajivika. There are conflicting views on this new hypothesis, but he is very strong with his propositions. I also published an article about him in Kalakaumudi. He published more than fourty books; almost all are controversial, but unchallengeable. Through him, I had a lot of IAS/IPS officers as very close friends. Rajbahadur, IPS thus became my friend. He is a Buddhist. He said, one who believes in supernatural powers is a mental idiot. When he appeared for interview for IPS he was the first accused in a murder case. He said fight was very common in his village. It was inevitable for their existence. An article was published by me in Kalakaumudi. He insisted me that the picture of the hut where he was born should find a place in the article. I made it also. Another very important person is Balwant Singh from Saharanpur U P, who is 1959 batch of IAS, resigned in 1963 due to severe untouchability prevailed in service. He visited Kerala thrice. He published four books. 'An untouchable in IAS' is his service story. No IAS officer ever in the history of India had resigned for the same reason. His latest book is 'Democracy and caste'.

The alarming social condition of India is copied in the book as such. Another intimate friend is Dr.Dinesh Ram who is Associate Professor in Delhi University. He is also a known writer in Hindi. Whenever we discuss about the novelty of Dr.Dharam Veer, we share a funny comment that he sends missiles from Trivandrum and it explodes in Hindi Literature. Many of the scholars who visited Trivandrum and had discussion with us had commented, ‘Dr. Dharam Veer is a saint’. We all better know that, only  a man with unique qualities can do the work for which he is committed, intact and without fail.

I took all of my friends to his quarters, viz V.Sasi, K J Raju, L.Rajan, Dr.Anil, my brothers Prof Sundaram Pillai, Dr.Bahuleyan, Jayakumar and Arun, son of Bahuleyan. My grandson Anoosh, small boy used to play with him. Very often, his quarters would be an assemblage of intellectuals discoursing contemporary issues giving emphasis to Dalit literature. He is dedicated to demystify and demythify the original and patent literature of the native Indians-the Dalits. He is of the strong view that Hindi had originally derived from Tamil. He found out 1500 Hindi words derived from Tamil. His arguments are based on evidence. He has written books on Linguistics also. He had a fellowship in Oxford University for nine months. Actually, this empowered him a lot to keep on his strong convictions. He told me that the original history of Kerala is sleeping in the Libraries in England. Everything which had come across by the missionaries is kept intact there. He encouraged me to collect all those things from there and rewrite the history. The same was told me by Bishop Gladson of CSI when I met him once. Somebody should come forward to take up the mission for rewriting our history.

We used to cook kappa and fish curry in his kitchen and served to all his friends visiting him from Delhi. He was alone in the quarters, cooking food by himself. His life style is very unique. His financial discipline is laudable. He rendered unblemished service to Govt. We never come across such a perfect gentleman having a systematic and planned life. His mission of life is also planned. A lot of good things sparking the intellectual insights could be absorbed from him by us. He is a treasure of knowledge and, committed to salvage the Dalits socially, culturally and religiously. He is very lovable also. One day, when I visited him in the morning he was found bit worried. I asked him why? He told me, 'one of my daughter's marriage is held today at Meerat'. I didn’t ask anything more as it would make him more worried. I also knew that there are some grave problems in his family affairs. He used to recollect his commitments to his family and the community. ''I am a physically handicapped, top in the bureaucratic hierarchy, working 3000 km away from my native place, keeping a family with four marriageable daughters, and taking the responsibility to liberate my community from the untold miseries and agonies being untouchables who are having birth right in the country''. Very often, he was found sitting in the midst of books and papers. We wonder how he is managing everything intact. He also told us, not to have unnecessary dialogue with the Hindu obscurantist. It would be a criminal waste. They have been interpreting the Vedas and Upanishads since 3000 years. It is none of our business to interfere in their personal affairs. It is their scriptures, let them interpret as they please, but don't allow them to interfere in our affairs as we are having our own entity, our own culture, policy and religion. We have to develop this which will in turn develop our identity. For them we are soulless, that has to be rewritten, because the soul is our identity. Whenever myself , Rajan and Anil had discussion with him he would listen to what Anil says, because he would have up-to-date information of UP politics. There are two approaches viz dogmatic and pragmatic. Dr. Dharam Veer excels in the dogmatic fields. To go with him to the book market, very often held in Trivandrum, was a great experience. He didn’t care about the price, purchase may even go beyond Rs10000/.

When he was the Principal Secretary to Govt. he made two of my friends viz N. Ayyapan and P.P Gopi as IAS officers considering their outstanding performances. He used to tell us that he missed me and V.Sasi to be conferred with IAS. In Kerala, it is very difficult for a Dalit to be conferred with IAS even after he excels in service. Even to get into IAS through direct recruitment is very difficult Mr.Sudakaran had won the exam four times, at the fourth time he got it. Mr.P C Baburaj won the exam four times, at last he got Indian Postal Service. Dr.Sateesh won the exam four times, he couldn’t get anything. There are ever so many Dalits like this. One of our friends became mad because of his continuous failure in the interview. No other community has such an experience. We are forced to think, where the merit is? In this juncture Dharam veer did a good job.

I may require pages after pages to describe the virtues of my most beloved and respected Dharam veer sir, for which this blog may not be sufficient. I will definitely take up the challenge to have a touching sketch of his poetic life.

I also had a very painful experience when he fell ill due to stomach problem. It was a miraculous escape for him. We all have tried our level best for medical care and because he was a VIP, all Govt. machineries were there for timely operation and all other medical assistances. L.Rajan, Dr.Anil and Sidharthan, M-Phill student, were very closely associated for his well being.

He voluntarily retired from service in August 2009 and left us from Kerala. He is now at NCR, Delhi with his family and fully engaged in writing. We all keep on the relationship for igniting our conscience and intelligence. He will be another Ambedkar in India. His new approach for redefining the indology will be a landmark in Indian history. Wish him all success in his great endeavor.