INDIA
An up close look at the rise of Tamil Nadu’s mainstream parties that have dominated the state’s politics since the sixties
The recent imbroglio in Tamil Nadu over the arrest of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader, Sasikala Natarajan and the installation of her proxy candidate, EK Palaniswami as the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has consumed more pages of newsprint in the last few weeks than any national news in recent history. However, very little or no space has been devoted to the rise of the two mainstream parties of Tamil Nadu which have dominated its politics since the 1960s and were born from the same crucible of political power, Dravidian identity politics.
The Dravidian movement began in the first quarter of the 20th century with the term ‘Dravidian’ being employed to denote the ‘native’ non-Brahmin residents of Tamil-speaking regions of the Madras Presidency. The movement’s initial thrust was against the alleged Brahmin domination of government posts in the colonial government. It was based on the then prevalent lingo-ethnic division theory of dividing Indians into Indo-Aryans and native Dravidians based on the languages spoken by them. Thus, speakers of Northern, Eastern and Western Indian languages were labelled Indo-Aryans while speakers of South Indian languages were classified as ‘native’ Dravidians.
Using this theory to enthuse their cadre, the leaders of the Dravidian movement founded their first political outfit, the Justice Party (South Indian Liberal Federation) in 1917 after a series of meetings under its precursor body, the Madras Dravidian Association.
The Justice Party, helmed by the trio of C Natesa Mudaliar, Theograya Chetty and Dr TM Nair, won its first victory in the first legislative council election of the Madras Presidency held by the British in 1920. Though the victory was partly due to the Indian National Congress’ boycott of the election, the Justice Party soon emerged as the main political alternative to the national party in subsequent elections. However, its square defeat by the Congress in the first legislative assembly elections held in 1937 forced its new leader, ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy to take stock of the situation and correct its downwards course.
Periyar began his innings as a social reformer who led the Vaikom Satyagraha for the Congress but later left to begin a new movement called the Self-Respect Movement in 1925. The movement aimed to encourage the cultivation of self-respect among all members of society including the backward classes. He was a fierce rationalist opposed to all signs of the Hindu religion, calling for boycott of its gods and goddesses. Thus, he came to deftly spearhead an anti-Hindi agitation against C Rajagopalachari ‘Rajaji’’s government for its compulsory introduction of Hindi in the schools of Madras. The three-year long movement ended with the move’s withdrawal in 1940 and the rise in Periyar’s stock as a Tamil leader.
Periyar ditched the Justice Party and formed the Dravida Kazhagam (lit Dravidian Organisation) in 1944 to push for Dravida Nadu, a separate country for the Tamil people. Periyar tried to controversially align his organisation with the Muslim League led by M A Jinnah. The latter enthusiastically supported the move to trifurcate India into Pakistan, Hindustan and Dravida Nadu. However, the move was scuttled by nationalist leaders resulting in the formation of Madras State amalgamated into the Indian nation in 1947. However, the Dravida Kazhagam succeeded in enforcing social reforms like entry of lower castes in temples and more reservations for them.
Periyar was soon eclipsed by the rise of a new radical leader, C N Annadurai who formed his own political outfit, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1949 to continue the fight for Dravida Nadu despite independence. The new party continued the policies of its predecessors including the vociferous opposition against ‘imposition’ of Hindi resulting in agitations in 1948-50 and 1965, which helped catapult it to power for the first time in 1967 as an alternative to the Congress.
DMK attracted hordes of film personalities right at its inception with M Karunanidhi, the noted scriptwriter being one of its founder members. Later, matinee idol, M G Ramachandran joined the party in 1953, lending the party his on-screen popularity. Many other actors and film technicians followed it for its pro-Tamil leaning which still hinged on the demand for Dravida Nadu as an idea. The idea was finally dropped in 1963 when the Nehru government declared secessionism as an illegal and punishable act.
Annadurai’s tenure as Chief inister was unfortunately cut short by his premature death in February 1969; however, he achieved great success by allowing self-respect marriages which did away with dowry and other Brahmanical practices, began the first subsidised rice scheme and renamed the state as Tamil Nadu just a fortnight before his death. His popularity rose to such heights that his funeral, the first of a Tamil CM to die in office, was attended by the largest crowd in the state’s history complete with drama, pathos and hero worship which continues to be re-enacted at the death of Tamil leaders, the most recent being Jayalalithaa.
Annadurai’s death however sparked a power struggle within the party between Karunanidhi and V R Nedunchezhiyan, the senior-most DMK leader. However, Karunanidhi won the Chief Minister’s post with the help of MGR and other supporters. Importantly, MGR, himself an MLA, had also become a larger-than-life leader due to a dramatic assassination bid on him just prior to his election in 1967. Thus, the stage was set for a future conflict between the two titans.
This conflict came to the fore in 1972 when ‘Kalaignar’ Karunanidhi sought to install his eldest son as the next leader prompting MGR to leave the party and form the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
MGR worked on the fortunes of the new party by acting in popular movies which enhanced his political stature enough to win the 1977 elections. It also helped that AIADMK came closer to the Indira Gandhi-led Congress and petitioned for the DMK government’s dismissal on charges of corruption which was enacted in 1976 by Indira Gandhi.
The bitterness between the two parties and MGR’s rising popularity ensured that Tamil Nadu remained firmly in the grip of the two Dravidian parties. MGR won three successive polls, one in 1977 and the other in 1980 and 1984, the last one despite not being able to campaign personally. Apart from the personality cult built around him, his populist schemes aimed at the poor gave AIADMK enough power to last till his death in 1987.
AIADMK was the first Dravidian party to have installed a minister in the Union cabinet in 1979 in the short-lived Charan Singh government. However, this strained its relations with the Congress which led to the Congress-DMK alliance for the parliamentary elections held in January 1980, which swept the polls. Indira Gandhi vengefully sacked MGR’s government however the move boomeranged on the alliance leading to its loss in the state elections held in May 1980. Following this began a period of the Dravidian parties routinely switching/ditching alliances with central parties at will and being wooed by national parties and alliances for their stranglehold over Tamil Nadu.
MGR’s death led to the installation of his wife, Janaki Ramachandran as the Chief Minister. However, the party was divided into two factions, one headed by Janaki and another by his acting colleague and protégé, J Jayalalithaa. The in-fighting intensified after the central government dismissed Janaki-led government in January 1988. The move gave the DMK a clear victory in the 1989 state elections. However, it also turned the factional fight in Jayalalithaa’s favour with the two factions uniting under her leadership.
Jayalalithaaa deftly allied with the Congress to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the first time in 1991. This was the first of the many switches between AIADMK and DMK that Tamil Nadu has witnessed in the last three decades. It was also during the 1991-96 term that the fortunes of Jayalalithaaa and her close aide, Sasikala Natarajan rose drastically, best reflected in an ostentatious wedding of Jayalalithaa’s foster son. However, it also led to various cases of corruption being filed against them. On December 7 1996, Jayalalithaa and Sasikala were arrested on non-bailable warrants and tried for the misuse of government office and accumulation of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 66 crore. The case ran through various courts for 20 years during which AIADMK rose and fell from public favour and participated in various governments at the centre. The DMK continued to function under members of the Karunanidhi’s wings, albeit with a rise in intra-family feuds due to Karunanidhi’s age. The feuds came to a temporary end recently, with the rise of Karunanidhi’s third son, M K Stalin as the working president of the DMK.
DMK had its fair share of corruption cases as well, like the 2G scam allegedly enacted during the tenure of the UPA I government in 2008.
Currently, Tamil Nadu has the AIADMK ruling the state under EK Palaniswami who rose to the position after a huge row within the party between Sasikala ‘Chinamma’ and O Panneerselvam, the caretaker CM. The party’s crisis ended temporarily with the arrest and surrender of Sasikala in the disproportionate case on February 14, 2017 and the temporary decimation of Pannerselvam faction. However, going by the state’s political past, this seems to be the lull before the bigger storm arises with the rise of a new supreme leader.
IND vs NZ, 2nd Test Dream11 prediction: Fantasy cricket tips for India vs New Zealand match
How To Prepare For The UPSC CSE 2025 Exam?
'India supports dialogue and diplomacy, not war': PM Modi at BRICS Summit
This woman lost in Dubai's desert orders camel via Uber, netizens say 'your camel has arrived'
Good news for Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm gets NPCI nod to..., shares surge over 7%
Fan requests Rohit Sharma to deliver her message to Virat Kohli, here's how Indian captain responded
Rajkummar Rao recalls being scammed in Delhi during struggle days: 'The man had...'
Robbers pose as customers in jewellery shop, what owner did next will leave you shocked
Maharashtra Elections 2024: NCP releases 1st list of 38 candidates; Ajit Pawar to contest from…
Japanese Shah Rukh Khan leaves Bollywood Badshah's fan impressed, social media says...
Will KL Rahul be retained by LSG ahead of IPL Auction? New report provides BIG update, it says...
'Wayanad will have two MPs': Rahul Gandhi after Priyanka files nomination for bypolls
I Want To Talk teaser: Abhishek Bachchan announces his next with Shoojit Sircar, to release on...
Diwali 2024: When is Deepawali, October 31 or November 1? Check dates, mahurat timings and more
JEE Main 2025 exam date to release TODAY: Know how to register, check exam calendar HERE
Jhalmuri fever hits London: Video of British man selling Kolkata-style street food goes viral, watch
SC slams Centre as Delhi air worsens, calls environment laws...
Ex-cricketer suggests replacing KL Rahul with THIS batsman for 2nd Test vs NZ, he is…
TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee smashes bottle, hurls it towards Chair in row over Waqf meet
Know how Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani's children Isha Ambani and Akash Ambani got their names
Family finds venomous snakes under their bed, what happened next will leave you in shock
This company's Vice President gets fired after raise and bonus, reason will leave you shocked
Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Financial eyes JVs with Allianz SE in insurance sector
IMD's BIG update: Cyclone Dana forms over Bay of Bengal, to cross Odisha-Bengal coasts on...
This company gifts cars as Diwali bonus, calls its employees celebrities, is owned by…
Amid divorce rumours with Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan skips her family gathering
When Ratan Tata opened up about his parents separation, first love and childhood, he said...
Blow to Mukesh Ambani ahead of Isha Ambani, Akash Ambani's birthday, Reliance stocks...
Saudi Arabia's futuristic megacity project Neom a big threat to migratory birds? Experts say...
Apple CEO Tim Cook didn’t know about this iPhone feature, left speechless, know here
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio offers superhit Diwali plan, unlimited 5G internet for just Rs...
Bengaluru Rains: Schools closed, WFH advisory for private companies as IMD issues yellow alert
Israel confirms killing of Hashem Safieddine, presumed successor of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah
Big move by Anil Ambani, his company to invest Rs 10000 crore to set up India's largest...
Meet Indian genius, who was born in small town, today leads AI innovations of Google, she is...
Woman stays at luxury resort worth Rs 3 lakh for free, claims she used...
Delhi AQI update: Air quality worsens to 'very poor' level at 349, becomes 'severe' in these areas
PM Modi to hold bilateral talks with Xi Jinping at BRICS Summit today
Odisha, West Bengal brace for Cyclone Dana: How was it named and what it means?
POCSO case: Mumbai Police ask Ekta Kapoor, her mother to appear for questioning tomorrow
Watch: Can you identify all the actors in this clip from 1991?
Priyanka Gandhi to file nomination for Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll today
Meet woman, whose father used to sell milk, cracked UPSC exam with AIR 62 to become...
Delhi: No water supply in Capital for 12 hours on Friday due to…; check list of affected areas
Salman Khan resumes shooting for Sikandar amid death threats from Lawrence Bishnoi
India, Pakistan extend Kartarpur Sahib corridor agreement for five years
DNA TV Show: What is BRICS currency? Is it possible to introduce it today?
IPL 2025: Three-time IPL champion set to join Gujarat Titans as batting coach - Reports
PM Modi, Xi Jinping to hold bilateral meet on sidelines of BRICS Summit on Oct 23, first in 5 years
New Himalayan snake species named after Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio, it will be called…
Cyclone Dana: Schools closed in West Bengal, Odisha for 4 days from...
Delhi govt to provide special assistance of Rs 5000 monthly to...
Rape-accused Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein diagnosed with bone marrow cancer
IND vs NZ: Sarfaraz Khan or KL Rahul; Who will find a spot in 2nd Test? India coach says…
Mumbai Police interrogates Ekta Kapoor, her mother Shobha Kapoor in case under POCSO act
Mukesh Ambani may team up with govt to sell food products through...
Bengaluru: Several feared trapped as under-construction building collapses
Best Cheap VPS Hosting Providers: Top Picks for Hosting Under USD 10
Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal set to raise Rs 8500 crore, says it is meant to...