The Eccentricities of Tamil Politics

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The Eccentricities of Tamil Nadu Politics| 10/4/2012 THE ECCENTRICITIES OF TAMIL NADU POLITICS KARTHIK SESHAN 2011DM018 The Eccentricities of Tamil Politics 'There is no God. There is no God. There is no God at all. He who invented God is a fool. He who propagates God is a scoundrel. He who worships God is a barbarian.' - Periyar These were the words of agitator and social reformist E V Ramaswamy Naicker (father of the Dravidian movement in Tamilnadu), more commonly known as Periyar. Electoral politics in India presents one of the most unique yet diverse paradigms of political operations all over the world. Yet, even in the unique world of Indian politics, there lie subsets that are exclusive to themselves. From as far back in time as 1925, when The Self Respect Association was launched by Periyar to work for the social and cultural advancement of all Dravidians, Tamilnadu Politics has occupied a distinctive space in the paradigm of Indian politics. From then till today, not much seems to have changed as far as its exclusivity goes. In general, throughout India, religion has always played a huge role. To the extent that Sumit Ganguly, Professor of Political Science at Indiana University comments that “Religion is part and parcel of political life”. Here too, Tamilnadu presents a picture that is different from the rest of the country in that religion has not really had an impact on the politics of the state. The Dravidian movement lies at the core of the political ideology of most parties in the state and as is made evident by the quote at the beginning of this article, atheism is one of the founding principles of the Dravidian movement. The most striking difference when compared with other states has been the regionalization of party politics in Tamilnadu. At a time when ethnic forces were working hard to gain a foothold in other parts
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