DMK IT wing floats forum to strengthen Dravidian ideology

Trichy: Facing stiff competition from right-wing ideology that has a significant social media presence and to bolster the Dravidian movement among the youth, the DMK’s IT wing has been enrolling active social media users under the banner of Dravidian Professionals Forum. The platform will see select social media users discussing the contributions of Dravidian ideology to the state’s development and the inputs from the youngsters will determine its future course.

Submissions to be part of the Dravidian Professionals Forum are being accepted through the DMK IT wing’s official website. Candidates have to fill in a questionnaire having such entries as the constituency they hail from, the constituency they reside in and average time spent on social media platforms among other things. A field marked ‘specialisation’ intends to know the skills of the aspirant including creative writing, social activism, visual editing and meme making.

IT wing functionaries in DMK said that skills like meme making will be streamlined to share authentic information about the strides made by the Dravidian movement in achieving social justice and equality. “We will scrutinize the applicants to check how active they are on social media, and authenticate their submissions. Selected applicants will be inducted into the forum (a platform) for healthy discussions on Dravidian movement, both online and offline,” R Dhileepan, deputy coordinator, DMK IT wing, Trichy South, told TOI.

The party has classified the state into six zones. Trichy, Thanjavur and Tiruvarur are among the seven districts that fall under the east zone. As many as 300 applications were said to have been received from Trichy South district alone comprising seven assembly segments. “The welfare schemes implemented in the state by the Dravidian movement and emulated in other states will be discussed on the forum to project the progress made by the state,” Dhileepan added. The IT wing expects it to take a month to finalize the forum after which the achievements of the movement in social justice and women empowerment will be propagated among youths. “The forum may not be very influential in the ensuing Lok Sabha election, because we are looking at the bigger picture,” IT wing sources added. “Since I have the quest to learn and discuss the Dravidian movement, I have enrolled in the forum,” said Jeyannathan Karunanidhi, a researcher in wastewater management.