One Hundred Years Of...Being Checkmated

Tamil Nadu has more temples than any other state in India, but has refused to endorse a single religion supremacy

- A. S. Panneerselvan

THHE year 1925 is significant because it gave birth to two directly opposite and contested ideologically driven political movements. In Tamil Nadu, Periyar (E. V.

Ramasamy) established the Self-Respect Movement and in Maharashtra, inspired by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's emotionally charged Hindu supremacist ideas, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The reason for taking two diametrically opposite political trajectories is to provide the historical context for why Tamil Nadu is not reflecting the national trend when it comes to religious identity, despite the fact that the rest of the nation has moved to the religious right since the December 6, 1992 demolition of the Babri Mosque at Ayodhya.

How do we understand the constant rejection of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Narendra Modi in three consecutive general elections: 2014, 2019 and 2024? How do we understand the cautious acceptance of A. B. Vajpayee in two consecutive elections: 1998 and 1999? To understand this, we need a historical perspective.

Tamil Nadu, like other parts of India, has its own fault lines and illiberal tendencies. At the same time, the century-old Self-Respect Movement gives the state the necessary social and political will to understand the importance of a vibrant polyphony as its social fabric. It recognises the need for plural compact between people from diverse backgrounds where one does not subsume the other.