Kasturi Shankar’s remarks attacking Telugu people are meant to 'create rift in Tamil Nadu'

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Key Points

Hyderabad: The saga of Tamil actor Kasthuri Shankars controversial comments on the Telugu-speaking community living in Tamil Nadu finally ended on 17 November with her arrest in Hyderabad..

While it is unclear why she targeted Telugu people in the state, political experts see her comments as a larger effort from the Right-wing to challenge the Dravidian culture in Tamil Nadu by creating rifts between co-existing communities...

Shankars remarks were made at an event held by the Right-wing outfit Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK)..

In her statement, Shankar said, When Telugu people, who came to serve the women of kings 300 years ago, claim to be Tamils, who are you to say Brahmins who came long ago arent Tamils?.

However, regardless of the socio-political history, Telugu-speaking people in Tamil Nadu, especially in Chennai, are now part of the social milieu without any discrimination, said Ashmita Atreya, lead storyteller and historian from Madras Inherited, a not-for-profit organisation that works on the history of Tamil Nadu...

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