CHENNAI: Not many states have had their politics influenced by splits and splinters as Tamil Nadu. The split in the Congress in the late 1960s debilitated the party whereas the fracture in DMK a few years later turned the State politics into a duopoly. The latest to join the long list of dissenters is an outfit floated by the DMDK rebels, whose Makkal DMDK has joined the DMK.
The most important political cleft in post-independent India occurred in 1969, when the out-of-power Congress split into two - Congress (Organisation) and Congress (Indira) - owing to the rising dissent between former chief minister K Kamaraj and the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. The ‘establishment’ that Kamaraj represented parted ways with Indira, after V V Giri was chosen as the party’s candidate for the post of president of India.
The bitter fight within fractured the party, but benefited the nascent DMK, which had come to the power only in 1967. In 1972, it was the DMK’s turn to split. After matinee idol M G Ramachandran was expelled from the party, the future chief minister floated the AIADMK, which went on to capture power almost immediately, and is now the party to beat.
The split in the Dravidian major impacted Congress’ chances adversely, with the political space being hogged by the DMK and its splinter AIADMK ever since.
“During the years between 1969 and 1980, split in political parties had a crucial impact on the poll results as well,” says professor P Kandasamy from Pachaiyappa’s College, whose researches focuses on contemporary politics in the 20th century. For instance, he adds, the Congress’ fate could have been considerably different had the faction led by G K Moopanar joined the DMK alliance in the mid-70s. “In that case, the AIADMK registering a consecutive victory would have been a possibility, but not a certainty,” he points out.
These epochal, headline-grabbing events were not the only splintering that played out during those decades. There were a lot of smaller splinter groups formed by leaders, including V R Nedunchezhiyan’s Makkal Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam and E V K Sampath’s Tamil National Party, which lost relevance in the subsequent hustings.
After MGR’s death, the AIADMK too suffered a split into J Jayalalithaa and Janaki-led factions, but the latter faded away before late. About half a decade later, it was the DMK’s turn to split when its rising star, Vaiko, revolted against the rise of the son of the party chief M Karunanidhi, M K Stalin. However, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazghagam (MDMK) could not influence the 1996 elections as much as Vaiko would have expected, as there was an anti-incumbency wave against the AIADMK government at the time of the polls. Instead, the splinter that made an unmistakable impact in 1996 election was the Tamil Maanila Congress, a breakaway faction formed by estranged Congress leaders G K Moopanar, P Chidambaram and others against the national leadership’s decision to align with the AIADMK.
The TMC merged with the Congress a few years later, only for Moopanar’s son, G K Vasan, to revive it two Novembers ago. Incidentally, the two breakaway parties, MDMK and TMC, are together in this election as part of the Third Front.
Other notable splits are the Tamizhaga Vazhvurumai Katchi from the PMK, and the Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam (KMK) that split into Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KDMK) and Kongunadu Jananayaga Katchi (KJK).
Breakaway outfits have been getting irrelevant after each passing election, noted political analyst, A Ramasamy. Floated by leaders, who were very popular among the masses, they once created an impact during elections. “But in recent years, splinter group leaders have become mostly relevant only for a particular election and then lose political mileage in the long run,” he adds.
Putting things into perspective, political activist Tamilaruvi Manian pointed out that almost all political splits in the State were due to the clashes between various personalities than due to any ideological differences.
