Dravidian parties
[20] The Brahmins, who occupied the highest strata in the society, accounted for 3% of the population in Madras Presidency, but held 60 to 79% of the positions in major government departments in the early 20th century.
[21] It was observed by some non-Brahmin leaders from the south that Brahmins were Aryans, and hence non-natives, who had taken positions in the government that should rightfully be filled by people indigenous to the area.
[20] The antipathy towards Sanskrit compounded with the animosity against the hegemony of Brahmins paved the way for the rise of Dravidian politics in Madras Presidency.
It later grew into a political party under the efforts of leaders like C Natesa Mudaliar, Sir Pitti Theagaroya Chetty and Dr. T. M. Nair.
In 1938, the by then badly weakened party sought the leadership of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, a leader of the Dravidian Movement, who became its president.
[1][28] The leaders of the splitting faction eventually formed a new party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or DMK (Progressive Dravidian Organisation in English), in 1949.
[26][30] Sampath, who had earlier forfeited his seniority with Periyar's party to join DMK, saw the call for an independent Dravida Nadu was turning out to be an unrealistic goal.
[2] After dropping the demand for an independent Dravida Nadu, DMK changed its focus to the problems arising out of the disparity between North and South India.
[26] Immediately after Indian independence the Congress Party was popular throughout India and thus formed the government in many states including Madras Presidency.
[38] After the death of M. G. Ramachandran in 1987, Sivaji re-launched his political career with his own party Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani ("Tamil Nadu Development Front" in English).
[45] The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ("Progressive Dravidian Renaissance Organisation" in English, or MDMK) is yet another offshoot of the DMK.
[2] Barring, perhaps, their more radical support for an independent Tamil Eelam in the Sri Lankan crisis,[46] the MDMK do not have major ideological differences with the other Dravidian parties.
MDMK shares its goals with the DMK and AIADMK in respect to State autonomy, constitutional protection for the reservation formula and making Tamil an official language of the Indian Union.
[25] The Election Commission of India refused to accept either of them as the successor of the original party and separate electoral symbols were allocated.
In the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ministry (1998–99), three parties from Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) were represented.
In the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Ministry, headed by Vajpayee (1999–2004), the DMK, the MDMK and the PMK all had representatives.
[25] Since then, state autonomy and social justice through reservation for the underprivileged in education and employment have been the main political planks of the DMK.
The Self-respect movement, which is at the root of Dravidian politics, was initially forged in the mid-1920s in emulation and in critique of the Gandhian Congress Party, but by the 1930s it was heavily influenced by Leninist socialism, atheism and Bertrand Russell's inspired rationalism.
[53] C. N. Annadurai, the first Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from the Dravidian parties, declared that the DMK (and hence its offshoots) are "genuinely communist by principle".
[25][38] Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Karunanidhi has continued be active both in film script writing and politics until recent times.
[63] One of the major impacts of the Dravidian parties is said to be the lack of or limited support to the Hindutva movement, which swept the Hindi heartlands of India, in Tamil Nadu.
Singh that the Mandal Commission's recommendation to extend reservation in employment in the Union government to the Other Backward Classes would be implemented was "in accordance with the resolution to that effect, passed in the State Assembly" is claimed by DMK to be one of its achievements.
The success of the efforts of Prime Minister Vajpayee in persuading Karnataka to accept the Tribunal's Interim Award ensuring 205 tmc.ft.
[7] According to the DMK, the "creation" of 11 Navaratnas and 97 Mini-Ratnas companies in the public sector, (blue-chip companies which invest 30 per cent of their surplus funds in public sector mutual funds) "with administrative and financial autonomy", during the United Front government at the centre (1996–98) was because of the party's presence in the Cabinet.
[7] Another benefit cited by DMK is the substantial profits the State has received from foreign investments since the start of the liberalisation process.
[7] It is the DMK chief Karunanidhi who played a vital role in the then central government declaring Tamil a classical language.
[67] In 2007 DMK chief Karunanidi sparked controversy with his remarks on Lord Rama, causing political unrest[68] and resulting in the filing of a First Information Report against him.
[67] S. Ramadoss, party chief of PMK, has recently called for the Central Government of India to help work towards an "early political solution in Sri Lanka.
Black and Red are the usual colours used, a feature which traces its origin to Periyar's visit to Axis countries and Soviet Russia.
On his arrival back home, he declared that his party members would wear black shirts whenever and wherever possible "as a symbol of the present down-trodden condition of Dravidians".
