The arrest of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and Rajya Sabha member RS Bharathi on Saturday (May 23) morning for making an insensitive comment on Dalits has yet again brought into focus the question: Where does the party stand on Dalits?. Karunanidhi's leadership was soon challenged by M.G. In 1971, under his leadership, DMK registered its first big win in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections. He is not a leader of the VCK or the DMK. ... especially its chief Thol Thirumavalavan are extremely abusive to Hindus, in particular to upper caste communities. Many political leaders aggressively played the Rajini card while campaigning for the DMK-TMC alliance. There are Thevars are in other parties, not just in the AIADMK. “The DMK which had consolidated the Muslim votes with its agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act is losing the support of the Dalits because of the outbursts by leaders … Other political analysts point out that Tamil Nadu politics was always leader-centric and it revolved around late leaders like Karunanidhi of the DMK, … https://thewire.in/politics/dmk-karunanidhi-tamil-nadu-caste-politics The DMK leader talks about fighting polls without Karunanidhi, says DMK is at forefront of fighting BJP’s polarising tactics in TN, claims Rajinikanth would not have been a factor, and rules out any tension with the Congress over seat-sharing talks. He was the Chief Minister of the state from 1977 until his death in 1987. He had gone to personally extend New Year wishes to the Congress leader and to thank him for launching a scheme to support the fees of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students, irrespective of the family's economic background. The very next year, MGR split from the DMK and formed, the AIADMK, after he was denied a cabinet post, and after the close friends turned into arch-rivals. There is a different type of justice for different castes,” he alleged. They have time-and-again abused and attacked Hindu organisations. You have a lot of Vanniyar leaders in DMK and not just in PMK. The session was moderated by National Editor (Mumbai) Nirupama Subramanian. This is the second DMK alliance partner to make such an announcement ahead of 2021 polls. Bharathi, who is the organising secretary of the party, made the remark at a function organised by the Kalaignar Reading Circle at … The former DMK leader also accused the DMK of indulging in caste politics. 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