Dalit Politics In Tamil Nadu At Boiling Point: No Longer DMK's For The Taking?

While the AIADMK’s internal wranglings have dominated headlines, a quieter but more consequential churn is underway in Tamil Nadu’s politics. Dalit politics, to be precise. The arrest of Puratchi Thamizhagam Katchi leader ‘Airport’ Moorthy, following a street clash with VCK cadres, has thrown the spotlight on the deepening fractures in Dalit representation.

And it is a story the DMK–VCK alliance would rather not have told.

Moorthy, a Dalit leader and vocal critic of VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan, was allegedly assaulted by VCK workers outside the DGP’s office in Chennai. Yet the police swiftly arrested Moorthy, who was chasing down one of his assailants, while those who attacked him are still free. The episode has only reinforced suspicions that the DMK government is shielding its ally.

But this is not about one arrest. It reflects a growing sentiment among Dalits that the VCK has become compromised, more loyal to the DMK than to the community it claims to represent.

VCK’s street credibility erodes

For more than a decade now, the VCK has enjoyed near-monopoly over the Dalit political voice in Tamil Nadu. Thirumavalavan transitioned from street-fighter to parliamentarian, and his alliance with the DMK gave him visibility and influence.

But proximity to power has come at a cost. From the Vengavayal water contamination case to the brutal murder of Kavin Selvaganesh in Tirunelveli, Dalits continue to be targeted. Yet the VCK’s responses have been subdued, its outrage muted. A party once known for agitation now issues press releases. The shift from resistance to accommodation is stark.

The turning point may have been the open murder of BSP State leader K Armstrong in Chennai. The case remains unresolved, fuelling anger among Dalits who saw it as a political assassination. The lack of urgency in pursuing justice was interpreted as complicity, and many believe it further showed that the VCK bartered away credibility for coalition comforts.

Thirumavalavan’s closeness to the DMK has only deepened this distrust. His once fiery speeches have now made way for apologies for his senior partner. His party leaders appear more at DMK celebrations than at protests for Dalit victims. Unsurprisingly, murmurs of dissent are growing louder, particularly among Dalit youth who accuse him of reducing their struggle to an appendage of Dravidian realpolitik.

The Dravidian myth and Dalit reality

At the core of this discontent also lies the larger question: has Dravidian politics ever truly served Dalit interests? Its claim has been that the self-respect movement and its successors gave Dalits political identity denied elsewhere in India. The lived reality suggests otherwise.

Landlessness, caste ghettoisation, and violence remain entrenched. Every atrocity, from Dalit panchayat presidents prevented from hoisting the national flag to honour killings in families, has exposed how little structural change Dravidianism has achieved.

What it has done, and done skilfully, is to manage the narrative. By projecting leaders like Thirumavalavan as coalition partners, the DMK has marketed itself as the protector of Dalit rights, even as its cadre are often implicated in caste violence.

2026: A vote bank in play

Tamil Nadu’s political equations are famously resilient. Alliances shift, leaders fall, but the vote bases of the two Dravidian majors rarely desert them. Yet today’s rumblings in Dalit politics suggest something unusual may be afoot.

If the Dalit vote, estimated around 20 per cent of the State’s population, splinters, the consequences could be severe for the DMK. The party banks on near en bloc Dalit transfers across the State. It is a crucial piece of its arithmetic. Even a modest shift could alter outcomes in the northern and southern districts.

For the VCK, the danger is existential. Without its captive Dalit base, it risks shrinking into irrelevance, neither strong enough to stand alone nor valuable enough to bargain with allies.

Already, splinter groups and independent leaders are moving to fill the vacuum. Voices amplified by social media are making direct inroads into Dalit homes. For instance, ‘Airport’ Moorthy, through YouTube and online platforms, channelled this disillusionment. His criticisms of Thirumavalavan, sharp, personal, often provocative, seem to have resonated. That may explain why he was the target of a physical assault by VCK cadres.

The larger point is that Thirumavalavan’s image as the sole, undisputed Dalit leader is under unprecedented challenge. For the VCK, the path forward is treacherous. It can attempt to reclaim its activist legacy by standing up to its ally when Dalits are attacked, by mobilising people on the streets, and by shedding the image of being DMK’s tame partner. But that would mean risking coalition perks and confronting the ruling establishment.

The alternative is to double down on its current strategy: staying close to the DMK, hoping that ministerial berths and symbolic gestures will placate its base. That, however, seems increasingly unlikely as Dalit youth and independent voices are rallying around the theme of betrayal.

‘Airport’ Moorthy’s arrest may seem like a minor skirmish, but it is symptomatic of the larger rupture. A community seems to be trying to reclaim its voice, even if it means breaking old alliances. For the DMK and VCK, the message is unmistakable: the days of unquestioned loyalty are over. The Dalit vote is no longer a given. It must be earned.