Dear Jeyamohan,
While you are talking about language politics or racial politics, you are trying to label it as simple “identity politics.” It is a superficial understanding. In Tamil Nadu, for well over two thousand years, we have been divided into castes. In modern democracy we have to unite as a country, as a modern society. So what will be the common thread to unite all castes as one? Naturally it is language; it is the tool used by modern European states also. It is a cultural identity, but it is not as divisive as religion and caste. Language politics is progressive in this sense; it is against the regressive and divisive politics of religion and caste.
Rajamannar
