Dalit Party VCK At A Crossroads: Can Chief Thirumavalavan Chart A New Course Away From DMK Alliance?

It seems it's the moment of reckoning for the major Dalit party in Tamil Nadu, the VCK (Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi).

The political outfit headed by the Lok Sabha member Thol Thirumavalavan, which has been a steadfast backer of the DMK for the most part of the last 20 odd years, seems to be feeling that it is at a political crossroads.

So much so that for the first time in recent times, the party has made bold to speak and do things that would make the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) feel enormously uneasy. But there is also a feeling that the VCK is confused as it is unable to decide on a strategy that can help check its recent slide among the strong Dalit vote bank in the state. 

The VCK set the proverbial cat among the pigeons when it first announced a pro-prohibition conference (to be held on 2 October) and also ‘baitingly’ said that the AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) was welcome to join forces with it in its 'crusade' against liquor.

That the AIADMK was not ready to accept the VCK's strange advances is a different matter. But the fact is it set the political tongues wagging in the state, which will go to the polls in the summer of 2026 (around April-May) and the usual jostling for position has already started.

The teasy call to the AIADMK wasn't a one-off though. It was followed by an even more bizarre appearance of a video clip on the party's official X handle in which Thirumavalavan was seen speaking for a share in power for ordinary people.

As if to draw attention to the whole thing, the post was deleted, then restored, only to be deleted again. This stirred up the political waters whether this was VCK's way of demanding ministerial berths in the state cabinet.

Again, typically Thirumavalavan played it down that this was nothing new and it had all along been the party position. "This can be spoken at any time; there is nothing wrong," he said.

No, he wasn't done yet. In a public meeting last night (15 September), Thirumavalavan again threw a political curve ball by saying that even if his speaking about liquor abolition in the state would lead to the alliance cracking, then his party was ready to face it.

VCK’s Stocks Dwindling Among The Dalits

And this morning (16 September), Thirumavalavan met Chief Minister M K Stalin at the state secretariat as a courtesy call after the latter's visit to the US. In a chat with media persons after the meeting, Thirumavalavan, again typically, played down all the controversies regarding his words and the party's X post.

His reactions to the press were on patented lines. No surprises there. But it is clear that the VCK is rethinking its strategy vis-a-vis the DMK. And that is mainly because there is a growing feeling among the Dalits that the Dravidian party has let them down enormously.

Even though crimes against them had never really stopped during the DMK regime, the Dalits, mostly rallied together by the VCK, had stood behind the Dravidian party for myriad reasons.  As we have been writing repeatedly in these columns, but the murder of Armstrong, the state Bahujan Samaj Party leader in Chennai, seems to have altered all the ground realities.

The Dalits felt betrayed and despite a few arrests and repeated news leaks around the case, the murder investigation has not progressed to their satisfaction. And powerful voices in the Dalit community, like filmmaker Pa Ranjith, have let their dissatisfaction with the Dravidian party loud and clear.  By extension, there was also the implicit suggestion that the VCK leadership seemed more loyal to the DMK than to its own followers.

This resentment was widespread and the VCK had to show that it was tied to the apron strings of the Dravidian outfit. And it is in this context that Thirumavalavan's intriguing speeches and political moves have to be watched and analysed. Will he rock the DMK boat in the state?

Well at least on paper, he can. Now that the AIADMK is no longer part of the alliance involving the BJP, there is room for some political realignment in the state that can make the DMK jittery.

Possibility Of A Political Churn In Tamil Nadu

The DMK's electoral success in recent times, and its dominance of social media discourse in the state is built on the reliable bulwark of VCK support. The DMK had put in the hard yards in cultivating the Thirumavalavan and its party's main leadership to cast their lot with the Dravidian ideology.

Actually in the early 2000s, Thirumavalavan and his party ideologue Ravikumar (he is also a sitting MP) had written articles that questioned Dravidian and E V Ramaswamy's contributions to Dalit amelioration. 

"The spread of an anti-dalit mentality and the reasons for the backwardness of dalits in the last three decades can be traced back to Periyar," Ravikumar wrote in an article in the Outlook in September 2004.

"In his public life Periyar was never involved in any direct struggle for the untouchables. Even the Vaikkom struggle (in Kerala, 1924), which the Periyarists praise, was not something initiated by Periyar," Ravikumar wrote in no uncertain terms.

But quickly M Karunanidhi and his cohorts managed to co-opted VCK and its leaders, and by the end of first decade, the VCK had changed tack and started singing paeans for EVR and his Dravidian ideology. In a woke and liberal controlled mainstream media, this helped the DMK to win brownie points and sneak ahead. 

But with the VCK now caught on the horns of a political dilemma, things are getting interesting. Of course, the VCK may just be play-acting to stop the ground under its feet from slipping further. The DMK knows the importance of Thirumavalavan and his party and knows ways to retain them. But on social media, the rampaging DMK trolls have started to drop their pretensions and have slowly unleashed their usual bile on the VCK. 

These are early days yet though. The DMK needs the VCK, but does not want to be seen as desperate for it. The VCK has options other than the DMK, but is it desperate for it? Even Thirumavalavan doesn't seem sure one way or the other.