Dravidian movement

Topic: Regional Aspirations: J&K, Punjab, the North-East and Accommodation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 7 "Regional Aspirations"

Meaning

The Dravidian movement was a Tamil regional movement against Brahmin dominance, Hindi imposition and north Indian political, economic and cultural control. It grew out of non-Brahmin and anti-caste politics. It worked only through public debate and elections, and from 1967 it brought Dravidian parties to power in Tamil Nadu.

It matters because NCERT uses it as the main example of a regional movement that started with a secessionist mood (a wish to break away from India) but was accommodated peacefully. It shows that regionalism and nationalism can go together.

Explanation

Roots and ideas

• Non-Brahmin politics began in the Madras Presidency. It challenged the control Brahmins (the priestly upper caste) had over jobs, education and public life.
• It started with the Justice Party (1916).

• Its aims were to end caste discrimination, promote equality and get more non-Brahmins into education and government jobs. [3]

• The word "Dravidian" refers to the shared culture and languages of South India's Dravidian-speaking peoples, especially Tamil culture and identity. [3]

• E.V. Ramasami "Periyar" began as a Congress worker. He was an atheist (someone who does not believe in God). He attacked caste, strict religious rules and patriarchy (male control over women). [3]
• Aryan-Dravidian thesis: he argued that north Indians and Brahmins were "Aryans", outsiders who dominated the "Dravidian" south.
• Self-Respect Movement (1925): it fought caste hierarchy and promoted reason, human dignity and Dravidian identity. [3]

The organisations, in order

• Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), 1944: Periyar founded it by turning the Justice Party into the DK. [3]
• It opposed Brahmin dominance and the North's political, economic and cultural control over the South.
• Its slogan was "Vadakku vaazhgiradhu; therkku thaeikiradhu", which means "the north thrives, the south decays".

• It claimed to speak for all of South India, but it found support only in Tamil Nadu.

• Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), 1949: C.N. Annadurai founded it in Madras after splitting from the DK. [4]

• Reason for the split: Periyar wanted to stay a social-reform force and keep out of elections. Annadurai believed that contesting elections was needed for real change. [5]
• Three-part agitation (1953-54):
  • restore the Tamil name Kallakudi to a railway station that had been renamed Dalmiapuram after a northern business house;
  • add more Tamil cultural history to school syllabuses;
  • oppose the state's craft-education scheme, which the DMK called Brahmanical because it pushed children into their family's hereditary trade.

• It opposed Hindi as the official language of the Union. [4]

• AIADMK, 1972: the film star M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) left the DMK and formed it. [4]

Its nature and limits

• Some members dreamt of a separate "Dravida Nadu" (a Dravidian nation).
• It never took up arms. It used public debates and elections.
• This is the key difference from the armed movements in Punjab, J&K and parts of the North-East.
• It gave up secession after the 16th Amendment, 1963 made a secessionist party's place in elections untenable.

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Act, 1963. It came into force on 5 October 1963, on the advice of a Committee on National Integration and Regionalism. [2]
• It added "the sovereignty and integrity of India" to Article 19(2), (3), (4) as a ground for reasonable restrictions (lawful limits) on free speech, peaceful assembly and forming associations. [2]
• It added the duty to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India to the oaths in the Third Schedule (linked to Articles 84, 173). This covers candidates for Parliament and state legislatures, ministers, MPs and MLAs, Supreme Court and High Court judges, and the CAG. [2]

• Effect: the DMK dropped Dravida Nadu and fully entered constitutional politics.

• Language question:

• Article 343: Hindi in Devanagari script is the Union's official language. English was to continue for only 15 years, that is, until 1965. [8]
• Official Languages Act, 1963, Section 3: English may continue alongside Hindi after 1965. [8]
• 1965: fear that Hindi would replace English set off a large, often violent anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu. It greatly strengthened the DMK.
• Official Languages (Amendment) Act, 1967 (Act No. 1 of 1968, 8 January 1968) gave English an indefinite role. It stays until all non-Hindi states pass resolutions to drop it and then both Houses of Parliament do the same. [9] In effect, each non-Hindi state has a veto (the power to block the change).

• 1968: Parliament also passed an Official Language Resolution to spread Hindi more actively. [9]

• Coming to power, 1967: the DMK won the Madras assembly election. [4] It was the first non-Congress party to win a majority on its own in any state.

• Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969.

• Rajamannar Committee (1969): the DMK government set it up to study Centre-state relations and to argue for more state autonomy.

• After 1969: Annadurai died, and M. Karunanidhi became DMK leader. [5] Since then the DMK and AIADMK have taken turns ruling Tamil Nadu, and the Congress has not ruled the state since 1967.

• One of the two parties was part of the Union ruling coalition from 1996 to 2013. Neither has been in the Union government since 2014.

• 69% reservation: Tamil Nadu Act 45 of 1994 (notified 19 July 1994) fixed reservation at 69% for Backward Classes, SCs and STs in college seats and state jobs. [7][6]

• The 76th Amendment, 1994 (enacted 31 August 1994) placed the Act in the Ninth Schedule as Entry 257A. [6][10]

• The Ninth Schedule is a list of protected laws. Under Article 31B, a law in it cannot be struck down only because it violates a Fundamental Right.

• Federal assertion today:

• The state opposes NEET (the national medical entrance test).
• It rejects the NEP three-language formula as Hindi imposition and keeps its two-language policy (Tamil and English).
• It fears delimitation (redrawing constituencies by population) would cut the Lok Sabha seats of southern states that controlled their population growth.
• In 2025, it set up a high-level committee on Union-State relations, chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph, which revisits the Rajamannar Committee's ideas.

Don't confuse with

• Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) vs DMK: the DK (1944, Periyar) came first and stayed out of elections. The DMK (1949, Annadurai) split from it in order to contest elections.
• Self-Respect Movement vs Justice Party: the Justice Party (1916) was the first non-Brahmin political party. The Self-Respect Movement (1925) was Periyar's social-reform campaign for reason and dignity.
• Rajamannar Committee vs Sarkaria Commission: both dealt with Centre-state relations. Rajamannar (1969) was set up by the Tamil Nadu government. Sarkaria was set up by the Union.
• Dravidian movement vs armed regional movements (Punjab, J&K, North-East): the Dravidian movement never used arms. It won power through elections and gave up secession by constitutional means.

Prelims Hooks

• 16th Amendment, 1963: added "sovereignty and integrity of India" to Article 19(2), (3), (4) and to the Third Schedule oaths. It came into force on 5 October 1963. [2]
• Order of founding: Self-Respect Movement (1925, Periyar), DK (1944, Periyar), DMK (1949, C.N. Annadurai), AIADMK (1972, MGR). Trap: the DMK split from the DK, not the other way round.
• Kallakudi–Dalmiapuram renaming was part of the DMK's 1953-54 three-part agitation.
• 1967: the DMK became the first non-Congress party to win a state majority on its own. Madras was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969.
• Official Languages Act, 1963, Section 3 (as amended in 1967): English continues until every non-Hindi state legislature and both Houses of Parliament resolve to drop it. [8][9]
• 76th Amendment, 1994: put TN Act 45 of 1994 (69% reservation) in the Ninth Schedule as Entry 257A, protected by Article 31B. [6][10]

Mains Points

• Accommodation rather than force (GS-I): a secessionist mood was absorbed peacefully.
• The 16th Amendment closed off secession through elections.
• The 1967 election opened a route to power.
• The 1967 language amendment answered the core grievance.

• Contrast this with the armed movements in Punjab and the North-East. NCERT concludes that regionalism and nationalism can go together.

• Language and federalism (GS-II): the 1963 Act and its 1967 amendment give non-Hindi states an effective veto over dropping English. [8][9] This shows that India's language policy is negotiated, not imposed. The same tension returns today over NEET, the NEP three-language formula and delimitation, and in the 2025 committee on Union-State relations.

• Social justice through regional politics: Dravidian parties turned anti-caste ideas into state policy, such as 69% reservation protected by the 76th Amendment. [6] The debate is that the Ninth Schedule route protects such policies but reduces judicial review (the courts' power to strike down unconstitutional laws). Regional parties in Union coalitions (until 2013) also show that regional parties can strengthen federal bargaining instead of threatening unity.

Related concepts

• Self-Respect Movement
• Dravidar Kazhagam
• Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

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• The Dravidian movement