On 17 September 1949, C.N. Annadurai (Anna) founded the DMK after his split with Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy. The DMK slowly but surely caught the imagination of the Tamil masses. In 1962, faced with the prospect of a ban, the party shed its separatist agenda and in 1967, the DMK attained power for the first time in Tamil Nadu. Since then, it has remained a potent political force, first under M. Karunanidhi and recently under M.K. Stalin, who succeeded him. Weathering many a political storm, including the 1972 split when its mascot, M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) broke away levelling corruption charges, its ejection from power in 1976 during the Emergency, the second dismissal in 1991 for its alleged dalliance with the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, and the debilitating split in 1993, the party has proved resilient. It was voted back to power in Tamil Nadu in 2021. The DMK’s pioneering public distribution system and welfare populism have been a model for other states. Of late, the party has touted its ‘Dravidian Model’ of development as a viable national alternative. Its renewed emphasis on Tamil cultural nationalism and cooperative federalism aims to counter the current majoritarian political narrative. Yet, seventy-five years later, the DMK is more than ever under assault from caste and ultra-nationalist elements and persisting charges of unjust enrichment and dynastic politics. At this pivotal moment in history, as the ethos of Indianness is being redefined, veteran political observer and commentator R. Kannan explores the trajectory of the DMK and its future direction. Drawing on a substantial body of first-hand accounts, The DMK Years narrates the story of the party objectively and in its entirety, making this volume essential to understanding the contours of Tamil Nadu politics.

From Haryana to Gujarat to Maharashtra, numerous Indian states have been witness to protests by backward classes pressing for quotas and reservations. In stark contrast is the exemplary case of Tamil Nadu, which has managed to effectively integrate economic and development agenda for the backward classes into state policy. In the fifty years of rule between them, M. Karunanidhi, MGR, and J. Jayalalithaa—the iconic leaders of Tamil Nadu politics—managed to effectively transform institutions and structures to deliver a social welfare agenda in the state. Was it pure charisma on part of these leaders that gave us the unusual story of politicians and bureaucrats working hand in hand to implement a social agenda? Written by S. Narayan, who as part of the administration was both a witness to and a participant in these developments, this book is an intimate narrative on the Dravidian years of Tamil Nadu. At an important juncture of Tamil Nadu politics, it also makes us wonder: With no charismatic leader in the horizon, who can take the state forward?

Writer-turned-politician Muthuvel Karunanidhi is amongst the most important political figures India has ever seen. He was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for five terms and leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for over five decades. Still remembered for his controversial but fruitful career as a regional leader, his contribution to Tamil history and culture has been invaluable. Meticulously researched and deeply engrossing, Karunanidhi: A Life delves into the life and times of this unforgettable man.

AN ILLUMINATING ACCOUNT OF THE DMK AND ITS CHARISMATIC FOUNDER In 1967, C.N. Annadurai became the chief minister of Madras state, when his party, the DMK, swept to power for the first time. In this definitive biography, R. Kannan traces the growth of Annadurai—from a young protégé of the radical thinker Periyar E.V. Ramasamy into a revered leader known as Anna, or elder brother. Kannan draws on Anna’s considerable body of writing, and the memoirs of other leaders and authors in Tamil, to candidly examine Anna’s complex relationship with Periyar and his disillusionment with the corruption he witnessed when in power. Featuring luminaries like Rajagopalachari and Kamaraj, K. Karunanidhi and MGR, among many others, Anna offers a warm and rounded portrait of a man who showed the way for the democratic expression of regional aspirations within a united India.

This book adds to the growing literature on dynamics of regional development in the global South by mapping the politics and processes contributing to the distinct developmental trajectory of Tamil Nadu, southern India. Using a novel interpretive framework and drawing upon fresh data and literature, it seeks to explain the social and economic development of the state in terms of populist mobilization against caste-based inequalities. Dominant policy narratives on inclusive growth assume a sequential logic whereby returns to growth are used to invest in socially inclusive policies. By focusing more on redistribution of access to opportunities in the modern economy, Tamil Nadu has sustained a relatively more inclusive and dynamic growth process. Democratization of economic opportunities has made such broad-based growth possible even as interventions in social sectors reinforce the former. The book thus also speaks to the nascent literature on the relationship between the logic of modernisation and status based inequalities in the global South.

Ninety-four-year-old Karunanidhi has had a six-decade-long career in Tamil and Indian politics. He has been the leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam since 1969 and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu five times. With the death of J. Jayalalithaa in December 2016, he is the undisputed tallest leader in the state even though his party is not in power and he continues to be in poor health. Karunanidhi's contributions to state and national life are many. He is known for pioneering several social justice and welfare schemes, as also for championing the causes of Dravidian identity and Tamil language and culture. The DMK under him was a crucial ally of the Congress and a constituent of the UPA. At the same time, he has also been embroiled in several controversies, including his party's support for the LTTE and the involvement of ministers from his party in the 2G spectrum scam. Karunanidhi: A Life in Politics chronicles the trailblazing life of one of India's most important politicians for the first time in English.

The foundations of politics in Tamil Nadu today are rooted in the rising consciousness and various organizations of what may be broadly termed "the Dravidian Movement" of the late nineteenth century and first decades of the twentieth century. This book focuses on the emergence of a new awareness of Tamil identity though a range of organizations for Dravidian uplift such as the Non-Brahmin Movement, the South Indian Liberal Federation (popularly known as the Justice Party), the Self-Respect Movement, the Dravida Kazhagam (DK), and its dynamic off-shoot, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The most prominent leaders of the Dravidian Movement were E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker, known as Periyar, "Great Sage," and C. N. Annadurai—Anna—who in 1967 was to become Chief Minister of Madras State. Today there are many books on Tamil politics, but until the 1960s no book had addressed the movement that was to become the dominant force in the political life of Tamil Nadu today. It was a young American, Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr., in 1960 who took up the project to portray the Dravidian Movement. With several months in Madras, he met leaders of the DMK and attended a number of conferences, and he collected all the pamphlets and papers he could find on the movement, many going back to the 1930s. As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, he brought this together for his Master’s degree thesis, completed in 1962. It was published as a book, The Dravidian Movement, in Bombay in 1965. Long out-of-print, the pioneering volume is again available in this new reprint edition.

Focusing on politics and society in India, this book explores new areas enmeshed in the complex social, economic and political processes in the country. Linking the structural characteristics with the broader sociological context, the book emphasizes the strong influence of sociological issues on politics, such as social milieu shaping and the articulation of the political in day-to-day events. Political events are connected with the ever-changing social, economic and political processes in order to provide an analytical framework to explain ‘peculiarities’ of Indian politics. Bidyut Chakrabarty argues that three major ideological influences of colonialism, nationalism and democracy have provided the foundational values of Indian politics. Structured thematically and chronologically, this work is a useful resource for students of political science, sociology and South Asian studies.

Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran, or MGR-founder of the AIADMK founder and three-time chief minister, Bharat Ratna recipient-dominated Tamil Nadu's stratosphere for four decades. In this richly detailed biography of the man often called vathiyar or teacher, R. Kannan traces MGR's life from his early poverty-ridden years-a Class Three dropout-to his rise as a matinee idol, before becoming a politician of repute. He examines MGR's lifelong association with mentor Annadurai and other Dravidian cultural icons, and his tumultuous political friendship with Kalaignar Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa, his cine heroine and political protégé. The book dissects MGR's years in power: His early administration, the legendary midday meal scheme launched in 1982 that fed 92 lakh schoolchildren, his well-intentioned farm subsidies and freebies that strained the exchequer, his largesse to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as well as his unabashed sponsorship of liquor barons and private medical and engineering colleges that aided the transformation of the state, but also fuelled corruption. Honest and insightful, MGR provides a portrait of a warm larger-than-life figure, whose legacy has left an indelible stamp on Dravidian politics.