- 4 hours ago
Tamil Nadu's politics is deeply rooted in Dravidianism, shaped by iconic leaders who defined generations. The political landscape began with Periyar's social justice movement in the 1930s, followed by CN Annadurai who formed the DMK in 1949 and brought Tamil identity into governance after the 1967 victory.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:07Music
00:09Music
00:34Red and black, a rising sun and two leaves.
00:41Kalainar and Amma, Talaivar and Talapati.
00:46Welcome Vanakkam to Tamil Nadu, where Dravidianism is rooted in every lane of the state.
00:52Politics is deeply ideological, fiercely fought but all centred around one theme, Dravidian
01:00pride.
01:00It shapes every political battle.
01:03This is a state where symbols are supreme, where icons are made by a heady film politics
01:09combination, but it's all driven by one theme, Dravidianism.
01:15Tamil Nadu politics is unique.
01:17The seeds of today's ideologies were sowed in protest, in resistance.
01:23Even today, it's a deep sense of identity that actually drives the state and its politics.
01:30So who sowed these seeds?
01:31Let's take you back in time to the Tamil Nadu icons, who rule the political landscape
01:37even today.
01:38We begin with E.V.
01:40Ramasamy.
01:40You may have heard of him as Periyar, that means elder in Tamil.
01:45He was the architect of Dravidianism, as the starter of a social movement in the state for
01:52social justice, for caste equality.
01:54His self-respect movement in the 1930s laid the foundation for a generation that simply
02:01would not accept inequality as their fate.
02:04They chose to stand up and fight.
02:07Periyar was also active in politics.
02:09He had the Justice Party, which he then rechristened as the Dravidar Karagam, known for its anti-Hindi
02:16agitations, known to have huge support from students.
02:19But soon, differences were born.
02:22Periyar wanted a separate Tamil state, and not everyone was on board or in agreement.
02:28That brings us to the next historic personality in Tamil Nadu politics.
02:34Kanjivaram Natarajan Anadurai, or Anna, as he was fondly known.
02:38He was a writer, an orator and a political reformer, who believed that social justice had
02:44to move from speeches to policy.
02:48In 1949, he formed the Dravidar Munetra Karagam, what you know as DNK today.
02:54So it was a break away from Periyar's party.
02:57And the mission was to turn Dravidian ideology into governance.
03:01So when Hindi was proposed as the sole national language, Anna stood his ground in a speech
03:07that still defines Tamil politics.
03:10He warned that imposing one language would turn Tamirs into third-rate citizens.
03:16In 1967, DMK swept to power.
03:21Madras state became Tamil Nadu.
03:23Tamil, the language, entered administration and education.
03:26Reservation policies expanded.
03:28For the first time, identity merged with state policy.
03:33And Tamil Nadu politics changed forever.
03:35However, the Congress was defeated in 1967, and that year spelled doom for the party.
03:41So much so, that till today, they are now secondary allies.
03:45But circling back to the DMK.
03:48There were two forces emerging, powerful figures who would shape generations of Tamil Nadu politics.
03:55Muthuvel Karunanadi and M.G. Ramachandran.
03:59They were best of friends, personal and political, and together became a formidable force in the DMK.
04:06On an aside, watch the film Iruvar, based on these two leaders' relationship.
04:11Muthuvel Karunanadi and M.G. Ramachandran was not just a superstar, he was a political phenomenon.
04:34His films made him the protector of the poor, and people actually believed that image.
04:49When he joined DMK, crowds followed him more than they followed the party.
04:55By the late 1960s, MGR was no longer just a star campaigner.
04:59He was becoming a vote magnet.
05:01Wherever he campaigned, crowds swelled, margins shifted, results changed.
05:07Local party units began organizing campaigns around his presence.
05:11District leaders sought his support.
05:13For many voters, MGR was the face of the DMK.
05:18And so inside the party, a parallel center of influence was quietly emerging.
05:23One driven not by ideology, but by mass loyalty.
05:26And for the first time, the DMK saw a leader who could actually move public opinion on his own, irrespective
05:34of party support or not.
05:36As allegations of corruption and internal dissent began surfacing in the early 1970s, MGR raised concerns.
05:43The leadership saw him as a threat, and so in 1972, the DMK expelled him.
05:49Karunanadi and MGR officially split, which means this, Tamil Nadu's politics split overnight.
05:59It was a fight for Anna's legacy between Karunanadi and MGR.
06:04MGR responded by forming the All India Anna Dravidar Munetra Karagam, the AIA DMK, saying he was returning Anna's ideals
06:13to the people.
06:15Five years after moving on from the DMK, MGR therefore scripted history.
06:20In 1977, AIA DMK defeated DMK and MGR became the chief minister.
06:27From that moment on, Tamil Nadu was no longer ruled by one Dravidian movement.
06:31It was ruled by two rival empires, both Dravidian by its core.
06:37MGR governed with a simple political idea of welfare first.
06:44MGR stood and had she was
06:46in Japan and the family.
06:51MGR was born as a big pro.
06:55But, as that, they had to live in the US of the world.
07:03They were born now.
07:05They were born and born now.
07:06They were born together.
07:08They were born now.
07:23In those early years of MGR's government,
07:27one face was always by his side.
07:29Jai Jai Lalita.
07:36A former leading actress,
07:38she had moved from cinema into politics under MGR's patronage.
07:42He brought her into the party.
07:44He gave her organizational responsibilities.
07:47And slowly he began positioning her,
07:50not just as a party member,
07:51but someone who's an important political entity.
07:55She was made Rajasabha MP.
07:57She was given ministerial roles.
07:59She was representing the party in parliament and on public platforms.
08:03And while MGR remained the unquestioned center of power,
08:07Jai Lalita was also emerging as his closest political confidant.
08:11Her rise was quiet, but very, very deliberate.
08:15Inside the AIA-DMK, there was a lot of talk about Jai Lalita,
08:19even while MGR was still firmly in control.
08:23MGR was invincible.
08:25He was a political stalwart.
08:26But then came a shock and jolt for Tamil Nadu.
08:31In 1987, MGR passed away.
08:34And AIA-DMK lost its center.
08:36A power vacuum opened.
08:38And two women stood on either side of it.
08:42Janaki Ramachandran, MGR's wife,
08:44and Jai Lalita.
08:45One image that nobody can forget.
08:48At MGR's funeral, Jai Lalita stood rock solid next to MGR's mortal remains.
08:54She was stamped.
08:56She was shoved.
08:57Nothing shook her.
08:59It was clear.
09:00She was positioning herself as MGR's political heir
09:03and then started the feud for the AIA-DMK reigns.
09:19Janaki briefly became chief minister,
09:21but factionalism ripped through AIA-DMK.
09:24Soon enough, Jai Lalita emerged as the face of the party.
09:28Ambitious, articulate, determined.
09:31But the AIA-DMK felt MGR's absence.
09:34After his demise in 1989,
09:37DMQ returned to power under Karun Anadi.
09:39And Jai Lalita became the leader of opposition.
09:41And in the same year,
09:43one of the darkest moments in the rivalry between DMK and AIA-DMK.
09:48On March 25th, 1989,
09:50the DMK government had just returned to power under Karun Anadi.
09:54Jai Lalita had been elected as the leader of the opposition.
09:57And inside the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly,
09:59the house was already tense.
10:01The discussion that day was about corruption allocations.
10:05Jai Lalita rose to speak.
10:06She began accusing the ruling DMK government of financial irregularities.
10:10And that is when the house erupted.
10:15Paper bundles were thrown.
10:17AIA-DMK MLAs rushed to the well of the house.
10:19And what followed was chaos.
10:22DMK members physically obstructed her.
10:25They pulled her saree.
10:26They yanked at her hair.
10:27They used abusive language.
10:29Jai Lalita was forced to leave the assembly.
10:33And here's where optics matter.
10:35She walked out.
10:37She stood before the media in a torn saree
10:40with her hair pulled by MLAs.
10:42And that is where she delivered the line
10:45that rewrote her political future.
10:50I will enter the assembly again
10:52only as the chief minister.
10:57This moment was when it got personal between Jai Lalita and Karun Anadhi.
11:01The bond, homie and respect between MGR and Karun Anadhi
11:05was clearly a thing of the past.
11:07Two years after her political vow,
11:09Jai Lalita stormed to power.
11:11In 1991, she became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
11:24And when she came back,
11:25she changed the course of politics in the state.
11:28Firm and centralized to her supporters,
11:31she became Amma, meaning mother.
11:33She ruled with an iron fist within her party
11:36ensuring no room for challengers,
11:38no room for dissent.
11:39So between 1991 and 1996,
11:42Jai Lalita ruled with absolute authority.
11:51Her government became intensely centralized
11:53and serious allegations of corruption followed.
11:56And Tamil Nadu's seesaw political trend began here.
11:59If in 1991, Jai Lalita won.
12:01In 1996, DMK returned to power under Karun Anadhi.
12:05And what followed was a phase of arrests,
12:08of courtroom drama,
12:09of political isolation for Jai Lalita.
12:12Cases were filed, properties were searched,
12:14she spent time in judicial custody.
12:17And every five-year term was marked
12:19by the same script of political vendetta by both sides.
12:22So in 2001, when Jai Lalita returned to power,
12:25one of the most dramatic nights
12:27in Tamil Nadu politics paid out.
12:29Karun Anadhi was arrested in a late night crackdown.
12:33Imagine this, a 78-year-old dragged out of his home
12:37with no heads up whatsoever in front of cameras.
12:41The arrest was widely criticized.
12:43Karun Anadhi was later released.
12:44But the message was clear.
12:46The rivalry had moved beyond politics
12:49into personal battle.
12:52Karun Anadhi's arrest in 2001
12:54was not just a political flashpoint.
12:56It was a reminder of how personal,
12:58how ugly Tamil Nadu politics had become.
13:01Because by now, this was no longer
13:03just a fight between two parties.
13:05It was a battle between two legacies.
13:07On one side, Jai Lalita's AIA DMK,
13:10built on loyalty, control, welfare politics,
13:13and the idea of Amma as the center of power.
13:16And on the other, the DMK,
13:18rooted in ideology, language, social justice,
13:22and a belief that Tamar identity
13:24must always challenge authority.
13:26For years, power moved back and forth
13:28between these two empires.
13:30Governments fell, leaders returned,
13:33rivalries hardened.
13:35Jai Lalita returned, stepped away.
13:37She returned again.
13:38Her authority grew stronger with every comeback.
13:41Her welfare schemes reached deeper into daily life.
13:44Karun Anadhi fought from the other side,
13:46regained power, challenged her again,
13:49and he too focused fully on welfarism.
13:52By now, Tamar Nado stopped voting for parties.
13:55It was voting clearly for personalities.
13:58That was until 2016.
14:01Amma breed her last,
14:03and it was the end of an era in Tamar Nado.
14:05Sorrow gripped the state
14:07as an ailing Jai Lalita passed away
14:09after ruling for weeks from a hospital room.
14:12This was a loss that Tamar Nado
14:14never recovered from, not even today.
14:16Here was a political heavyweight
14:18who ruled Tamar Nado politics for decades.
14:21There was an outpouring of grief
14:22naturally on the streets of Tamar Nado.
14:25December 5th, 2016,
14:26a day the people of Tamar Nado would never forget.
14:30AIA-DMK didn't just lose its leader,
14:32it had lost its center of gravity.
14:34And Tamar Nado was about to enter a phase
14:36it had never seen before, of instability.
14:40The state had not just lost a leader,
14:43its command center was gone forever.
14:45But emerging from the shadows
14:48for the first time was VK Sashikala.
14:51Taking a leap out of Jai Lalita's book,
14:53during the funeral,
14:54she stood rock solid
14:55besides Amma's mortal remains
14:57as leader after leader consoled her,
15:00almost as if she was the next of him.
15:08At first, the party tried to hold itself together.
15:11Opanir Selvam was sworn in as interim chief minister,
15:14VK Sashikala stepped into the political space
15:17Amma had left behind.
15:18The city was先ほど no longer
15:21and attacked a high� apa public
15:25and he had reached the scene
15:29of the arrival of Jai Lalita.
15:33The mayor of Jai Lalita
15:39and the mayor of Ramita
15:40was a electoralambient.
15:41As a judge of the mayor came,
15:43he was a judge of the mayor.
15:46He was a judge of the mayor's
15:47and a judge of the mayor.
15:5121.
15:5121.
15:5122.
15:5122.
15:5122.
15:5422.
16:18The messaging was clear then that Sashikala was cementing herself as the rightful heir.
16:23Someone who had never been seen in politics during Jailalitha's tenure had now emerged from the shadows with the spotlight
16:30firmly on her.
16:31But it wasn't as easy as that. What followed was definitely not stability.
16:37It was a slow fracture. OPS refused to bow before Sashikala.
16:42Suddenly, O Paneer Selvam staged an overnight Dharma Yuddha at Jailalitha's memorial.
16:47He said his conscience could not allow Sashikala to take over.
17:11The divide was out in the open.
17:17The AIDMQ was now in two factions split right down the middle.
17:20But then, another twist. Sashikala was convicted in the disproportionate assets case and sent to prison.
17:27But she signed off by visiting Amma's memorial and symbolically taking a vow by thumping the memorial three times.
17:52Who did she pick as an interim leader?
17:53AIDMQ
17:55AIDMQ
17:56AIDMQ
18:23AIDMQ
18:24AIDMQ
18:25AIDMQ
18:26AIDMQ
18:26AIDMQ
18:37AIDMQ
18:38AIDMQ
18:39AIDMQ
18:54AIDMQ
18:58AIDMQ
19:00AIDMQ
19:02AIDMQ
19:15AIDMQ
19:16AIDMQ
19:16AIDMQ
19:27AIDMQ
19:29AIDMQ
19:32AIDMQ
19:33AIDMQ
19:36AIDMQ
19:48AIDMQ
19:58AIDMQ
19:59AIDMQ
20:01AIDMQ
20:03AIDMQ
20:03He says,
20:05You will be asked for a second,
20:06and he will be asked for a second,
20:13and I will say,
20:16I will say for a second.
20:26I have come with you,
20:28what is it?
20:30I will say,
20:30what is it?
20:31I will say,
20:33I will say,
20:57Rajnikanth turned into a first day no show after promises of entering
21:02politics, it never actually happened.
21:32And then there was Kamal Haasan who lived up to his word and launched his own party, the
21:36Makkal Nidhi Maiyam.
21:49Karagoshan.
21:51Karagoshan.
22:04Karagoshan.
22:07Karagoshan.
22:08Karagoshan.
22:08Karagoshan.
22:13Karagoshan.
22:14Karagoshan.
22:16Karagoshan.
22:17Karagoshan.
22:19Karagoshan.
22:21Karagoshan.
22:22Karagoshan.
22:22Karagoshan.
22:23Karagoshan.
22:23Karagoshan.
22:24Karagoshan.
22:24Karagoshan.
22:24Karagoshan.
22:25Karagoshan.
22:27Karagoshan.
22:28Karagoshan.
22:30Karagoshan.
22:30about the 2021 election.
22:32It was a turning point.
22:52The first election after the loss of two political giants,
22:56the first time the people had their say.
22:59And they gave a clear mandate for M.K. Stalin.
23:29They gave a clear mandate for M.K. Stalin.
23:33Five years on the same question plagues Tamil Nadu,
23:37but different circumstances.
23:38I'm talking about the entry of a new political player,
23:42Elia Talapati Vijay, with his party,
23:45Tamaragavetrekaraga,
23:46meaning victory of the Tamil people.
24:03The second election.
24:05See,
24:05the end of this,
24:06this has been a willingness to run.
24:08The next election.
24:09The second election.
24:10The next election.
24:12I can't wait to see all of you.
24:14We will see a few more people.
24:21We will see that the present in Tamil Nadu is a happy event.
24:27That is a conference.
24:29We will see that the present one.
24:48He's constantly tried to project himself as today's MGR.
24:52He's constantly trying to project himself as today's MGR.
25:01In 1977, in June, the MGR,
25:09He's constantly trying to project himself as today's MGR.
25:14He's constantly trying to project himself as today's MGR.
25:47And so, in weeks from now, we will know,
25:50Is this still the age of tragedy in politics?
25:54That is the question now facing Tamil Nadu.
Comments