Tamil nationalism
Shortly after the island's independence from Britain, the Sri Lankan government passed the Citizenship Act of 1948, which made more than a million Tamils of Indian origin stateless.
In addition, the government also initiated the state-sponsored colonisation schemes, with the aim of lessening the numerical presence of minorities as well as monopolising traditionally shared economic activities such as agriculture and fisheries, which have been part of the livelihood of Sri Lankan Tamils since time immemorial.
The burning of Jaffna library in 1981 and Black July in 1983 finally led to over 25 years of war between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers.
Persistent use of violence, including assassinations, led the LTTE to be declared as a terrorist organization by India, Malaysia, the European Union, Canada, and the USA.
Dravidian Nationalism was popularised by a series of small movements and organisations who contended that the South Indians composed a cultural entity that was different from the Indo-Aryans of North India.
[13] By the late 1960, the political parties who were espousing Dravidian ideologies gained power only within the state of Tamil Nadu.
But since the Indian government had added a new legislation that outlawed anyone wanting independence from India, under the sedition act, and that made political parties to lose their right to stand in election, the DMK dropped this demand.
With this, the drive for secession became weaker with most mainstream political parties, except a few, who instead committed to development of Tamil Nadu within a united India.
Most major Tamil Nadu regional parties such as DMK, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) frequently participate as coalition partners of other pan-Indian parties in the Union Government of India at New Delhi.
His death instantly triggered widespread strikes, demonstrations and public unrest in Tamil Nadu.
Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, N Ram named members of the Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, Thamizh Thesiya Periyakkam, some lawyers, and law college students as responsible for incidents of vandalism at their offices.
[citation needed] The Tamil nationalist party Naam Tamilar Katchi arose 18 May 2010 as a result of the bloody end of the Sri Lankan civil war.
The police warned and booked members for violating the Indian constitution by raising an unofficial flag for Tamil Nadu proceeded by Naam Tamilar Katchi among the public.
[37][38][41] Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai even opposed Amit Shah's Hindi push.
The government responded with a crackdown resulting in the death of two protesters and the arrest of 1,198 persons including women and children.
The Congress Government of the Madras State, called in paramilitary forces to quell the agitation; their involvement resulted in the deaths of about seventy persons (by official estimates) including two policemen.
To calm the situation, Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri gave assurances that English would continue to be used as the official language as long the non-Hindi speaking states wanted.
"[60] Vaishnavite commentators such as Nanjiyar went one step further, declaring that people who were not Tamil lamented the fact that they were not born in a place where such a wonderful language was spoken.
