Politics of Tamil Nadu
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Politics of Tamil Nadu is the politics related to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
History of Tamil Nadu politics
Formation of Tamil Nadu
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Pre-Dravidian politics of Tamil Nadu
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Indian National Congress dominated the political scene in the initial years post independence with leaders like C. Rajagopalachari and K. Kamaraj. The political influence shifted from national politics towards regional politics with rise of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the late 1960s.
Rise of Dravidian politics
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Dravidian parties have dominated state politics since 1967. One of the earliest regional parties was the South Indian Welfare Association, which was founded in 1916. It came to be known as the Justice Party after the name of its English-language daily, Justice. E.V. Ramasami, popularly known as "Periyar", renamed the party Dravidar Kazhagam in 1944. DK was a non-political party which demanded the establishment of an independent state called Dravida Nadu. However, due to the differences between its two leaders Periyar and C.N. Annadurai, the party was split. Annadurai left the party to form the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The DMK decided to enter into politics in 1956.
The Anti-Hindi agitations in the mid-1960s made the DMK more popular and more powerful political force in the state. The DMK routed the Indian National Congress party in the 1967 elections and took control of the state government, ending Congress's stronghold in Tamil Nadu. C.N. Annadurai became the DMK's first Chief Minister, and Muthuvel Karunanidhi took over as Chief Minister and party leader after Annadurai's death in 1969.Karunanidhi's leadership was soon challenged by M.G. Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR. In 1972, he split from DMK and formed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). He was the Chief Minister of the state from 1977 until his death in 1987. After the death of MGR, the party split again into two factions, one led by Janaki Ramachandran, wife of MGR, and the other led by J. Jayalalithaa. After the defeat of AIADMK in 1989 assembly polls, both factions were merged and Jayalalithaa took control of the party. She was elected as the General Secretary of the unified AIADMK. There have been splits in both the DMK and the AIADMK, but since 1967 one of those two parties has held power in the state. In the State elections after M.G. Ramachandran's death, neither of the two parties could come back to power in consecutive assembly elections. Governments were formed by: DMK in 1989, AIADMK in 1991, DMK alliance in 1996, AIADMK alliance in 2001, DMK alliance in 2006 and AIADMK alliance consecutively in 2011 and 2016.
Tamil Nationalism in politics
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Tamil Nationalism has been part of the Tamil political Arena ever since a Tamil identity pride has been created among the Tamil populace in the late 19th century. Dravidian movement and Tamil nationalism rose from the same roots. They differed in very few but important topics, such as eradication casteism , promoting religious equality and extermination of untouchability. While Dravidian parties take these topics at the same level of Promotion of Tamil, the Tamil organizations sole priority was promotion of Tamil. On multiple occasions they were religious and sometimes refused to acknowledge the caste problems.
During the Anti Hindi Imposition Movement, the Tamil Nationalist organizations converged with Dravidian parties on the common ground of Protecting and Promoting Tamil. In the next oncoming decades, the relevance of the Tamil Nationalist Parties reduced to a great degree. Still many Tamil Nationalist organizations keep on working on promotion of Tamil identity.
Such parties and their policies can be classified into a wider spectrum. There are organization which claim every person with an intent to promote Tamil identity as a Tamil. At the same time, few elements classify and deny Tamil identity to the people of Tamil Nadu based on Caste lines, which is in total contrast to the former type.
After the death of Velupillai Prabhakaran, a revival, even though not a big enough to create an impact in political balance, is seen. The success of this new wave is yet to be seen.
Political culture of Tamil Nadu
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Politics in Tamil Nadu has had a strongly populist character since the rise of Dravidian politics in 1960s. In Tamil Nadu, DMK and AIADMK are alternately elected by people in Tamil Nadu and a strong third party does not exist. A dark side of Tamil Nadu politics is, that during the elections in Tamil Nadu the voters are promised to be provided with money, colour television sets, laptops and household appliance by political parties .[1][2][3] This tactic is successfully used by the ruling ADMK and DMK to get an advantage over financially weaken opponents. Tamil Nadu has several caste parties who create Votebanks for rulling parties.[4] Many people from the Tamil film industry are active in Tamil Nadu politics. Some of the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu like MG Ramachandran, Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa have their background in the Tamil film industry. The worship of party leader by members, is widely spread in Tamil Nadu, sometimes it reaches a fanatical level. This worship culture originates during the era of MGR.[5]
The youngsters were often a factor that change the dynamic of Tamil Nadu politics, what can be seen in Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu, 2013 Anti–Sri Lanka protests and 2017 pro-jallikattu protests.
Political parties of Tamil Nadu
Tamil national parties
- Pattali Makkal Katchi
- All Indian Public Freedom Party
- Naam Tamilar Katchi
- Tamizhaga Murpokku Makkal Katchi
- Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi
- Ilantamilar Munnani Kazhagam (ITMK)
- Tamizhaga Janata Party
- Tamilar Vidiyal Katchi
Dravidian parties
Apolitical Dravidian parties
Dravidian parties originating from Justice party
- Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
- All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
- MGR Kazhagam
- Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
- All India Latchiya Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Dravidian parties without roots in Justice party
- Dhiravida Thelugar Munnetra Kazhagam
- Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK)
- Tamizhaga Dravida Makkal Katchi
Indian national parties
- Abdulkalam Vision India Party
- Indian National Congress
- Social Democratic Party of India
- Communist Party of India
- Communist Party of India (Marxist)
- Tamil Nadu Makkal Congress
- Kamarajar Deseeya Congress
- Tamil Maanila Congress
- Tamil Maanila Kamraj Congress
- Bharatiya Janata Party
- All Indian Public Freedom Party
- All India Forward Bloc (Subhasist)
- Democratic Forward Bloc
- Desiya Forward Bloc
- Tamil Nadu Communist Party
- Aam Aadmi Party
Religious parties
Hindu nationalist parties
Religious minority parties
- Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham
- All India Muslim League
- Manithaneya Makkal Katchi
- Indian Christian Front
Caste parties
- Tamil Nadu Salavaithozlilalars Party
- Ahila India Naadalum Makkal Katchi
- All India Moovendar Munnani Kazhagam
- All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi
- Kamarajar Adithanar Kazhagam
- Kongu Desa Makkal Katchi
- Kongunadu Munnetra Peravai
- Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi
- Kongunadu Makkal Katchi
- Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam
- Makkal Tamil Desam Katchi
- Moovendar Munnetra Kazhagam
- Moovendar Makkal Katchi
- Perunthalaivar Makkal Katchi
- Puthiya Needhi Katchi
- Tamil Desiyak Katchi
Dalit rights parties
- Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi
- Dalit Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam
- Ambedkar Makkal Iyakkam
- Puthiya Tamilagam
- Tamil Nadu Thalthapatha Makkal Munertra Kazhagam
Socialist parties
See also
References
- ^ "Tamil Nadu, the ultimate freebie State". The Hindu.
- ^ "Tamil Nadu polls: Welfare, freebies, prohibition". indianexpress.com.
- ^ "The politics of freebies". asianage.com.
- ^ "Why caste is as important to Tamil Nadu politics as Amma vs Karunanidhi". scroll.in.
- ^ "MGR: The man who made cult worship the theme of Tamil Nadu politics". indianexpress.com.
- ^ Surely, the Shiv Sena is going national, expanding its base in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.."'The Shiv Sena is going national'". The Hindu.