Tag Archives: DMK

You are most likely to understand Vijay’s Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) if you have had a friend who is a people pleaser. At Vijay’s first maanadu (political conference) in 2024, soon after the launch of his party, it was revealed that the five figures whose ideologies were going to guide TVK’s ways were Ambedkar, Periyar, Kamaraj, Anjalai Ammal and Velu Nachiyar; a confusing bunch and a perfect example of too many cooks spoiling the broth. What they all have in common, except broadly overlapping progressive leanings and four out of five of them living around the same time, is beyond me. This was perhaps the earliest public hint of a personality that wants to cover all his bases and make everybody happy.

The logical conclusion of aiming for universal appeal is the strange cocktail that is Vijay’s cabinet. We have CTR Nirmal Kumar, who is TVK’s Deputy General Secretary (IT and Social Media Wing) and the Minister of Energy Resources and Law, who previously served as the President of the State IT and Social Media Wing of the BJP between 2019 and 2023. He has/continues to have affiliations with the RSS and was very strategically (rather cunningly) made to contest in the Thiruparankundram Assembly Constituency, where the centuries-old conflict between a temple and a dargah in close proximity escalated last year into full-blown communal riots. The conflict is likely to resurface in November 2026 during the annual festival of lights (Karthigai Deepam), when the Hindus will once again ask that their deepam be lit 50 metres away from the dargah. And Nirmal Kumar, as the MLA of the constituency, will oversee it all.

The party’s treasurer and Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, P. Venkataramanan, is a Brahmin candidate fielded in the constituency synonymous with Brahminism itself – Mylapore. He has famously called anti-Brahminism an “old ideology” that “does not exist now” and is “not necessary in today’s society”. Beyond the venom in his words lies some valid grouse with a century-old anti-caste movement that is solely concerned with anti-Brahminism. It is evidence of no real or meaningful effort at caste eradication by any of the Dravidian parties at the helm of power for 60+ years. Even within the last 5 years of M.K. Stalin’s reign, the murder of Dalit men in cases of inter-caste marriages, the murder of K. Armstrong – the state President of the Bahujan Samaj Party; and, where caste and labour are intrinsically linked, the sanitation workers’ protest and the Samsung workers’ strike, were not handled by the DMK with the same care they use to craft their words. That both DMK and AIADMK consistently reduce their voters to their caste identity every election cycle, with their adamance about only allowing every region’s oppressor-caste candidates to contest in their respective constituencies, is an open secret. Unsurprisingly, the one group that is unanimously and vocally happy about TVK’s victory are the Brahmins.

The foundation of people-pleasing is deliberately allowing many different meanings to be read onto you. So Vijay’s cabinet also has someone like Aadhav Arjuna, the Minister for Public Works and Sports Development, who was briefly the Deputy General Secretary of a party as strong in its Dalit liberation ideology as the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), formerly known as the Dalit Panthers of India. Ex-YouTuber Rajmohan, the state’s Education Minister, was sworn in along with 4 women, 7 Christian, 1 Muslim and 6 other Dalit ministers, making the cabinet one with the highest number of Dalit ministers in the state so far. It is unsurprising that Vijay’s anti-casteness is accepted without much scrutiny when he has openly campaigned with the photos of Dr. Ambedkar and visited the statues of Periyar and Iyothee Thaasar after coming to power. The support of prominent figures in the anti-caste movement, such as Pa. Ranjith, only helps this narrative spread liberally. But if we are to believe the support from all sides, then we have on our hands an anti-caste party that makes Dalit people and Brahmins equally happy.

TVK is a party that is willing, nay, eager to collaborate with the BJP government. Vijay’s first official statement after being declared victorious responded to Modi’s congratulations. When the governor repeatedly delayed inviting him to form the government, he did not unleash his anger in public, an act he seems to reserve solely for the DMK. Despite backlash at the Sanskrit Vande Maataram preceding Tamil Thai Vaazhthu at his swearing-in ceremony, he repeated the sequence of events when his ministers were sworn in. The relationship between Tamil Nadu and the Union Government is strained by multiple conflicts in the realms of taxation, the Union Budget, delimitation and Keezhadi, to name a few. Vijay’s stances on all of them are unclear.

The most crucial disagreement perhaps lies in the field of education, where the state has been demanding the abolition of NEET and resisting the National Education Policy. While Raj Mohan has declared that TVK will make no compromises on the two-language policy, ABVP representatives who met Vijay on the same day as this declaration have come back with half of their demands met. People-pleasing, it turns out, is not as harmless as it looks, for it consistently sides with power when conflict emerges. At the time of writing this, Vijay has not met the press directly even once; he has perhaps realised that emulating this behaviour has no consequence.

The default Hinduism that Vijay personally subscribes to, he is unafraid to bring to the public arena. Before the election results were announced (and for some part of his campaign), Vijay was seen visiting mosques, churches and temples with a secularism that took the tone of one eager to ease Hindu anxieties. Joseph Vijay, the first Christian Chief Minister and first chief minister from a religious minority in Tamil Nadu, is constantly seen wearing an arakaja pottu, a marker that cannot be read as anything but Hindu. On his second day in office, he appointed his personal astrologer, Rickey Pandit, as his Officer on Special Duty, proof of his complete disconnection from any sense of rationalism, a move he was made to retract within 24 hours in the face of harsh criticism on the assembly floor.

Despite its history with atheism and rationalism, Tamil Nadu continues to be a deeply religious place, and one needs a figure in the state that can absorb this. A decade ago, this was J. Jayalalithaa. Post her demise and the gradual dilapidation of the AIADMK, Vijay comes as a replacement. Whether this figure is a wall or a door is yet to be seen. The stakes of holding this position are obviously very different now than they were in 2016.

The BJP winning just 1 seat in 2026 compared to 4 seats in 2021 is evidence of their irrelevance in Tamil Nadu. But the rise of Hindutva is going to look very different here than it does in the rest of the country, for the overtness of the phenomenon cannot be the sole proof of its occurrence. The widespread success of films such as Amaran, Thai Kilavi and the latest Karuppu are indicative of the fact that Hindutva will be nurtured here, as long as its references are regional.

But the road against the fascism now simmering in the state is not paved by walking on eggshells. You stand against nothing when you stand for everything, and the pandering is bound to make cracks for the BJP to make its long-attempted entry. And this will be possible not because Vijay was foaming at the mouth with hate – the opposite is in fact true – but because he was too busy running an anti-caste, secular party that is willing to collaborate with the BJP and pleases Sanghis, Brahmins and everyone in between equally.

Kavipriya is a writer from Tamil Nadu who likes to research, read and write and is informed by anti-caste, feminist, socialist thought.

The death of 26-year-old Dalit youth Akash Denison in police custody in Sivaganga district has once again forced Tamil Nadu to confront a recurring contradiction. A state that prides itself on a legacy of social justice continues to witness a pattern of custodial deaths that disproportionately claim the lives of the poor and the marginalized, including Dalits.

Akash Denison’s death on March 8 at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai has triggered protests, political demands for an inquiry, and renewed scrutiny of police conduct in the state. Yet for activists and anti-caste organisations, the case is not an aberration. It is another entry in a long list of custodial deaths that expose systemic violence embedded within the criminal justice system.

The death of Akash Denison

Akash Denison, an engineering graduate from Krishnapuram Colony in Manamadurai, was arrested on March 6 along with another youth in connection with a sickle attack on two individuals in Zion Nagar the previous day. According to the Tamil Nadu police, the assault followed a petty quarrel and was captured on CCTV footage.

Police sources stated that Denison was a “history-sheeter” with several pending cases, including one for attempted murder. The official version claims that he sustained serious injuries while trying to escape arrest, allegedly falling from a bridge. He was initially treated at Sivaganga Government Medical College Hospital before being remanded to judicial custody until March 18 by a magistrate. He was then transferred to the convict ward at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.

On the morning of March 8, Denison reportedly developed breathing difficulties around 5:45 am. Despite attempts by doctors to revive him, he died shortly thereafter. Police have suggested that complications from his injuries, possibly fat embolism caused by fractures, could have led to the death, though post-mortem confirmation is awaited.

The family disputes this account entirely. Denison’s father, Rajesh Kannan, alleges that his son was brutally assaulted in custody. According to the family, police officers took him to a secluded area near Sivaganga, placed stones on his legs, and beat him until his bones were shattered. The father also claims that officers hurled caste slurs during the assault. His mother, Anandhi, has alleged that police had earlier threatened to kill her son if he was ever caught.

Before his death, Denison reportedly told his parents that he had been assaulted by the police. The family has demanded that the case be registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and that those responsible be prosecuted. The body remains in the hospital mortuary pending further proceedings and a magisterial inquiry.

Political and civil society response

The death has drawn strong reactions from Dalit organisations and political leaders. Thol. Thirumavalavan, leader of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, demanded a thorough investigation into the custodial death. He stated that Denison had informed his family about police assault and caste abuse before he died. Thirumavalavan questioned the circumstances of the death and asked why a detainee under state custody died while being treated in hospital. If police officers were responsible, he said, strict action must be taken and justice ensured for the victim’s family.

Human rights activist Henri Tiphagne of People’s Watch called the incident the 26th custodial death in Tamil Nadu in recent years and urged the Madras High Court to take suo motu cognisance of the case. He also stressed that the post-mortem must follow Supreme Court guidelines for custodial death investigations. Meanwhile, local protests erupted in Manamadurai, with residents blocking roads and demanding accountability.

A pattern that refuses to disappear

Denison’s death cannot be understood in isolation. Tamil Nadu has seen a troubling number of custodial deaths in recent years, many of them involving individuals from marginalised backgrounds and arising from arrests for relatively minor offences.

Data compiled by People’s Watch shows that 32 custodial deaths occurred during the tenure of the current state government between May 2021 and August 2025. In an analysis of 27 of these deaths over the past four years, nearly 40 percent of the victims belonged to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.

The pattern cuts across the state but is particularly pronounced in the southern police zone, which includes Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli, and Sivaganga districts. In most cases, the police have attributed the deaths to illness or sudden medical conditions such as seizures or chest pain. Yet post-mortem reports, family testimonies, and FIRs often reveal extensive injuries suggesting custodial torture.

One of the most widely known custodial deaths in Tamil Nadu was the 2020 killing of P. Jayaraj and his son J. Bennix in Sathankulam, which sparked nationwide outrage. The two were arrested for allegedly violating pandemic lockdown regulations and were later found to have suffered severe torture while in police custody. The case remains under judicial process.

More recently, in June 2025, temple security guard Ajith Kumar died in police custody in Sivaganga district after being detained for questioning in a theft case. His death, too, triggered allegations of brutal assault by police.

Other cases reflect similar patterns. Baskar, a Dalit man arrested in Cuddalore in 2024 for allegedly selling tobacco, died after being remanded to jail; his family said his body showed signs of torture. Seventeen-year-old Gokul Sree died in a juvenile correction facility in Chengalpattu in 2022, with 96 injuries found during the post-mortem. In another case, tribal man P. Marimuthu died in 2025 while in custody of the forest department after being accused of possessing leopard teeth.

Across these cases, the victims were overwhelmingly from poor families and were frequently arrested for petty crimes such as theft, minor altercations, or illicit liquor brewing.

Marginalisation and vulnerability

The demographic pattern is difficult to ignore. Among the 27 custodial deaths examined by researchers, nine victims were from Scheduled Castes and two were from Scheduled Tribes. Many of the others were from economically vulnerable communities or were daily wage labourers.

For activists, this concentration reflects deeper structural inequalities. The Lokniti-CSDS report State of Policing 2025 adds another disturbing dimension. According to the study, 56 percent of police personnel in Tamil Nadu expressed strong support for the idea that violence is sometimes necessary to obtain information from suspects.

Institutional accountability has also remained weak. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau indicates that only one police officer has been convicted for custodial violence in Tamil Nadu between 2011 and 2022.

The contradiction of social justice politics

Tamil Nadu’s political culture is deeply shaped by the anti-caste and rationalist movements associated with figures like Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. The state’s dominant political parties frequently invoke this legacy to emphasise commitments to equality and social justice. Yet activists argue that the persistence of custodial deaths exposes a gap between rhetoric and institutional practice.

Several Dalit organisations have pointed out that the criminal justice system, particularly the police, continues to reproduce caste hierarchies even within a political environment that publicly rejects them. Allegations of caste-based abuse, such as those made by Denison’s family, are therefore not isolated claims but part of a broader critique of structural discrimination. Without meaningful accountability, the promise of social justice risks becoming symbolic rather than substantive.

The struggle for accountability

In many custodial death cases, legal proceedings stretch for years, and evidence often disappears. Activists say police stations frequently claim that CCTV footage was automatically deleted within weeks, making independent verification difficult. Even in high-profile cases such as the Sathankulam deaths, final judgments have taken years to materialise.

For families like that of Akash Denison, the struggle is immediate and intensely personal. His parents have refused to accept the official explanation for his death and have demanded a transparent investigation. Their demand echoes a larger question confronting the state: whether the cycle of custodial violence can finally be broken.

For now, Denison’s death stands as another reminder that the distance between the ideals of social justice and the realities of policing in Tamil Nadu remains painfully wide.

What makes Akash Denison’s death particularly troubling is not only the allegation of brutality but the familiarity of the pattern it fits into. Custodial deaths in Tamil Nadu have repeatedly revealed how the weight of policing falls most heavily on those already pushed to the margins, where poverty, caste, and criminalisation intersect. Each case prompts outrage, promises of inquiry, and temporary administrative action, yet the underlying culture of impunity rarely changes. If the state’s commitment to social justice is to mean anything beyond political vocabulary, it must confront the violence embedded within its own institutions. That requires more than compensation or isolated suspensions. It requires transparent investigations, swift prosecutions, and structural reform of policing practices. Until then, the death of Akash Denison will remain not an exception but a grim reminder of how fragile constitutional protections become when they collide with caste prejudice and unchecked state power.

Paresh Hate is a Bahujan queer researcher, writer, documenter and activist and the Lead Content Manager at Dalit Voice.