As the protests over the Cauvery issue were dying down on Tuesday evening and netizens took to social media to either promote harmony or post memes targeting Tamil Nadu or Karnataka, one Twitter handle was working for peace, using historical figures as a mirror to their ties.
On September 12, when Bangalore witnessed fiery protests, Twitter handle @IndiaHistorypic started posting pictures of historical figures from the two States under the hashtags #Peace #IndiaFirst. The tweets used the examples of various personalities who were Kannadigas but had rendered signal service to Tamil Nadu, and Tamils who had done likewise for Karnataka.
One picture tweet of Dewan K.Seshadri Iyer read: [He] “was known as the maker of Modern Bangalore...born in Tamil family.” This was followed by another of Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, a Tamilian, who went on to become an acclaimed Kannada writer and Jnanpith Award winner.
Sir C.V. Raman, cartoonist R.K. Laxman, writer R.K. Narayan, actor Rajinikanth, playwright T.P. Kailasam, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, former Mayor V.S. Krishna Iyer and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa…the list went on, with their pictures and history, tweeted as part of the peacemaking effort.
The Hindu reached out to the owner of the Twitter handle, who declined to be identified. In an interview over Twitter’s Direct Messaging service, the handle owner said, “I wanted to run a campaign to promote peace and harmony on the Cauvery issue between Tamils and Kannadigas. The campaign was needed because of the hate messages on social media”.
Waiting for impact@IndiaHistoryPic was not, however, sure if it had helped. The netizen behind it said it was necessary to remind both sides that “they have a shared history and shared past and posting historical pics of legendary figures along with their place of birth and work was the best way.” Both States had historical people-to-people links from centuries ago.
Asked whether linguistic politics was still on the minds of people between the two States, the reply was, “Tamil-speaking persons have done so much for Karnataka, they studied and worked there and so have Kannadigas in Tamil Nadu. Language is not a barrier. ”
Another meme on Facebook by Namma Karnataka Memes pointed out that Masti Venkatesha Iyengar was born in a Tamil family while Periyar, whose mother tongue was Kannada, led the self-respect movement in T.N.
Social media has become the theatre for pitched online battles, but sober voices and attempts like @IndiaHistorypic have come to the fore in such a moment of avoidable crisis. “My purpose was to show that Tamils have Kannada interest in their heart and vice versa. Both Tamils and Kannada people are Indians first,” @IndiaHistorypic said.
