The Outpost

There is a growing clash in Tamil Nadu between the Dravidian model of governance and the BJP's brand of development

- Mohammad Ali

IN September 2023, while speaking at a Sanatana Abolition Conference, Udhayanidhi Stalin stated that Sanatana Dharma is against social justice and equality and should be “eradicated”. His statement generated outrage far beyond Tamil Nadu. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders pounced on him. Several FIRs were registered against him. Yet, to see this as merely an irresponsible provocation or a political gaffe is to misunderstand Tamil Nadu—and the movement that governs it. Udhayanidhi’s words marked the return of a long-simmering, deeply-rooted ideological confrontation, one that predates the BJP by decades and even predates Independence: the clash between the Dravidian imagination of India and the Hindu nationalist, hom