KOZHIKODE: Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has said that Kerala and Tamil Nadu are states that successfully kept at bay the communal forces.

Speaking at Manorama Hortus, the cultural and literary festival organised by the Malayala Manorama on Saturday, the DMK leader said the people of the two states stood strongly against fascism because of the progressive politics firmly established here.

Udhayanidhi said that in the 1920s, those who spoke Sanskrit were held in high regard. “A Sanskrit professor in Madras University had a monthly salary of Rs 200 while a Tamil Professor got only Rs 70,” he said.

The Dravidian movement emphasised on the ‘Pure Tamil Movement’ which aimed to eliminate Sanskrit influences from Tamil by consciously developing a vocabulary that avoided Sanskrit, he said.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu’s stance on linguistic insubordination was seen as divisive by the nationalists of the era, he said. “However, after many decades, history has proved otherwise,” he said.

Before the 1950s, Tamil cinema was heavily Sanskritised and released with anti-scientific themes, he said. The Dravidian Movement changed the situation. After the 1950s, cinema emerged as a dominant medium for political messaging, with socially conscious narratives and dialogues resonating with the masses, he said.