Tamil Nadu transformed

The roots of the regional formation lie in the strongly atheist and stridently rationalist ethos of thelate E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker. Over the last three decades of rule by regional parties, the state has emerged as a strong champion of a more federal political arrangement. And, it reserves 69 per cent of government posts as also educational seats for the backward and other historically subjugated communities. By contrast, despite tactical retreats, the BJP is wedded to the Hindutva ideology and holds that reservations should not be of such a level as to promote caste conflicts.

The reversal of the DMK’s strategy was influenced by political compulsions, but it points to a deeper pattern. Until only a year ago, the party of Hindutva was hardly a player in the state. Now, in just two years, it has struck alliances with each of the two major regional parties. In the process, the latter have provided an entry to a cadre-based political grouping with a clear ideological orientation into Tamil Nadu. Even more significantly, several smaller parties have been constituents of each of these multi-party alliances. Theentry of the BJP and the flowering of smaller parties both point to the end of the hegemony of the larger parties and the broad Dravidian ideology.

The very success of the regional groupings in fulfilling their initial agenda served to create the space for new forces to arise. Once the Backward Classes as a whole consolidated their dominance over the public space, internal fissures came to the fore. The rise of the Pattali Makkal Katchi since 1987 has undercut the base of the larger formations in the Palar basin. The fact that its leader can sup at the DMK’s table is testimony to the end of the latter’s all-out dominance over such groups.

Ironically, it was the AIADMK that encouraged and gained from this process. Far more than its rival, it was able to negotiate with smaller interest groups and bring them under one umbrella. In the early Nineties, as Chief Minister, Jayalalitha even began to patronise several front organisations of the Sangh combine. In the last year, the game got out of her hands.Things went her way initially. The multi-party alliance forged by her on the poll eve united all anti-Karunanidhi forces under one banner. But the loaves and fishes of office were not in her hands but in Vajpayee’s. When she broke with him, none of the significant smaller parties walked out with her. In turn, the Hindutva party won a new political legitimacy in the state.

Yet, there is more to all this than the mere changes in the political line-up. The deepening of Tamil Nadu’s social divide is yet to evoke a creative response from any major political force. Over the years, clashes in the southern districts between the Thevars and Dalits have seen a new level of assertion by the former. Last year, a new Dalit-led party polled over a lakh votes in two Lok Sabha constituencies. There is a new mood of assertion among the new generation of Muslims, once content under the umbrella of the DMK. The old order is being chipped away at the base, though the outlines of the new one are not as yet clear.

Ironically,this is happening at a time when several elements of the old programme of the Dravidian parties have been taken aboard at a national level. Federalism has been strengthened both by the assertiveness of the courts and the growth of regional parties. This has enabled Karunanidhi to outlast determined attempts to oust his ministry by invoking Article 356. Even more significant has been the BJP’s acceptance, in principle, of the need to amend the Constitution and allow for reservations in excess of 50 per cent. The twin forces of regionalism and Mandal are transforming India’s polity.

Even liberalisation has worked to Tamil Nadu’s advantage, reducing its dependence on the Union and enabling it to make the most of its higher level of human development and its more market-friendly policies. The state’s chief minister is an increasingly influential figure in Indian politics partly because social changes in the state have made it a front runner.

Irrespective of the outcome of the elections later this year, thepolitics of Tamil Nadu has been changed for all time to come. The rise of the BJP, admittedly as a minor player, is an accomplished fact of life. The spread of its ideology will create new convulsions, and extract a toll from the Dravidian parties. The DMK, having spent most of the last decade campaigning against the plank of Hindutva, is now busily testifying to the BJP’s secular credentials. This may prove costly not only with the minorities but also with other sections of society. In the coming years, Dalit assertion will perhaps prove to be a far more significant force, not only in social but also in explicitly political terms. As Ambedkar statues displace those of Periyar, especially in southern Tamil Nadu, there is a new churning, one that cannot easily be contained within or expressed by any major political party. The issues of material dignity have at times been superseded by the struggle for social equality. Reservations, far from solving the issue, have receded to the background as control ofpolitical power itself is at stake.

As Tamil Nadu’s society undergoes such major changes, political consequences are inevitable. Until now, the state has only seen one-party rule. Given the stream-roller majorities won by either of the two major parties, coalitions have proved unnecessary. But this phase may also be drawing to a close. Having played a key role in making and breaking coalitions in New Delhi, the two Dravidian parties will strain to avoid such a denouement within the state when it goes to the polls two years from now.

The writer is Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library