Political scenario in Tamil Nadu as election fever catches on 

Although the 2026 State Legislature election are a full year away, political parties have already started raising issues and forming alliances

By Raji Krishnaises

In the 2024 parliamentary elections in Tamil Nadu (and indeed the rest of India), the dominant issue was whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would, on being re-elected, alter the constitution to make India a Hindu nation and do away with reservations for socially and economically marginalized communities in government jobs and educational institutions.

The BJP was confident that due to the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its Hindu nationalist agenda would get electoral endorsement. The target for the BJP was to get 400 plus seats in the House of 543 as against 303 in the 2019 elections. But it got only 240, forcing it to form a coalition government.

Chastened by the result, Prime Minister swore that he would not change the constitution. But at the ground level, Hindu majoritarianism continued to be the guiding principle of the BJP-led government.

Its “Hindutva” agenda included dilution of States’ rights and increasing centralisation; giving the more populous North Indian  States a greater proportion of seats in an expanded parliament as compared to the less populated Southern States; and giving the North Indian language Hindi a pre-eminent place in India through a National Education Policy and administrative fiats.

Some concerns like the reduction in the proportion of seats in parliament and inequities in the allocation of Central government funds to States were common to all Southern States. They agitated together. But the infusion of Hindi into the education system to ensure its eventual dominance, was opposed only by Tamil Nadu. Therefore, Tamil Nadu is fighting a lone battle against “Hindi imposition.”

Tamil Nadu has refused to accept the Central government’s “Three Language Formula” under which ever school student should learn three languages – his or her mother tongue, Hindi and English. Tamil Nadu has a “Two Language Formula” under which only Tamil and English are taught. Hindi is optional. Tamil Nadu points out that in the Northern States, the “Three Language Formula” is not followed, as in practice only Hindi and English is taught. Tamil Nadu also asks why it should be forced to teach Hindi in addition to Tamil and English, when North Indian States are allowed to skip the third language.   

Moreover, States have no money or teachers to teach three language at the mass level. Teaching two is itself a challenging task.

Tamil Nadu State Assembly polls

Tamil Nadu State legislature elections are due in April 2026, an year hence. But political parties have already started campaigning and forming electoral alliances.

The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) had swept the 2021 State Assembly elections securing 159 seats in a House of 234. The DMK-led alliance swept the 2024 parliamentary elections also,  bagging all the 39 seats up for grabs.

Right now, the DMK government is facing charges of corruption and high-handedness, but still, it is the only party which is fighting for the States‘ rights vis-a-vis the Modi government. It has been fighting in the legislature as well as the courts and other forums. Its ministers and spokesmen have used the mass media to propagate the State’s views, the dangers that over -centralization poses to all States and indeed all Indians.

They have highlighted the inequities in the existing financial devolution system between the Central and State governments, and the use of the National Education Policy to impose Hindi on non-Hindi- speaking States.

Above all, the DMK government has ensured a State GDP growth rate of 9% in 2024-2025. Tamil Nadu is one of the top States in terms of economic growth and social indices of development.

The BJP which is straining every nerve to get a foothold in Tamil Nadu and eventually demolish the citadel of secularism and social equalitarian politics there, has teamed with the opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). It is also trying to rope in the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), and the political outfits led by film director Seeman and actor Vijay.

But these parties are aware that, wedded as they are to secularism, social justice and State autonomy, they cannot identify themselves with the BJP. The AIADMK is not celebrating its alliance with the BJP, giving the impression that it was coerced into agreeing to the alliance.

After the departure of K.Annamalai from the post of BJP Tamil Nadu State President, the State unit is without a dynamic aggressive leader and street fighter. His successor Nainar Nagendran is affable but not dynamic.

The BJP and its allies are trying hard to the raise issues like high corruption and high-handedness against the ruling DMK. But this is unlikely get traction in the electorate because the issues agitating the people are more fundamental such as secularism, constitutionalism, States’ rights in a federation, and the fear of Hindi imposition, issues parties aligned with the BJP cannot take up.

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