Recent comments of the DMK MP and Former Central Minister A Raja on Manusmiriti in a meeting organised by the Dravida Kazhagam in Periyar Thidal have created political turmoil in Tamilnadu and his comments made the TN BJP and other Hindu groups angry as he criticized the Manusmirti and called the Shudras(OBC) as sons of prostitutes. He targeted the OBC leaders TN BJP chief Annamalai, Vanathi Srinivasan - BJP Mahila Morcha National President and AIADMK leaders Edappati Palani Swamy and O Panneer Selvam saying that these people are the Victims of the Manusmriti but not intelligent enough to realize that.

Bringing in Periyar and Anna Durai, he clearly stated that today OBC’s in Tamilnadu are empowered and enjoying political power only because of the Dravidian movement run by Periyar, Annadurai, Karunanidhi and other Dravidian leaders. With this, he indicated that the INC or any other party run by the Uppercaste Hindus had played no role in achieving this, but instead, they worked against the interests of the OBC communities. He also clarified that he or any other Dravidian leaders are not against the Hindus, but they are against the Hindu forces which are working against the empowerment of the OBCs in the country and he stated that the real enemies of the OBCs are the Upper Caste Hindus who opposed the reservation of the OBC’s.

Periyar is considered the father of Dravidian politics, he continuously advocated for the reservations for OBCs in INC but the party differed with him, which led to Periyar's exit from the INC in 1925. His exit has laid a foundation for the emergence of the Self Respect movement and Dravida Khazagam in Tamilnadu. He accused the INC of being Brahmin-centric and alleged that INC is against the empowerment of the backward and other marginalized sections of the society, he severely criticized Gandhi and other INC leaders for advocating the Manu smriti and for not trying to reform discriminatory practices like untouchability in Hinduism. He openly appealed to the public to boycott the INC from the country and to join his self-respect movement and Dravida Khazagam to achieve social justice until his last breath in 1973. This appeal costed a lot to the INC in Tamilnadu, the INC has lost its prominence in the state.

The Dravidian movement, is strongly asserted by the DMK till date. Though DMK split from Periyar's DK politically in 1949, they were together in the Dravidian movement but with the emergence of the AIADMK after MG Rama Chandran split from the DMK in 1972, the Dravidian movement has also declined in the state as the Dravidian parties DMK and AIADMK occupied the political space in the state.

The present-day Tamilnadu political dynamics have changed with the death of the AIADMK former chief Jaya Lalitha and the infightings within the party post her death. This whole crisis has benefited the BJP in state politics as it projected itself as a powerful alternative to counter the DMK and to occupy the political vacuum left by Jayalalitha.

Compared with any other Indian state, Tamilnadu is more spiritual than rational. For decades BJP is trying to encash this spirituality to strengthen the party and it is succeeding in achieving this as the presence of the RSS and BJP has increased in the state compared with the past.

In recent times we can see the OBCs of the Kongu region shifting towards the BJP especially the supporters of the AIADMK due to the leadership crisis in AIADMK. Tamilnadu BJP’s chief K Annamalai himself is a former AIADMK. BJP is trying to propagate the Hindutva ideology in the spiritual OBC masses, and it is trying to wash out the Dravidian ideology from the Tamil land, RSS is also continuously working invisibly on the ground for this cause.

The recent comments of A Raja on Manusmriti clearly tell us that the DMK and other Dravidian parties have understood this fact and they started acting against it by appealing to all Dravidian parties to join together to fight against the BJP and to restrict the polarization of the OBC towards the BJP and RSS. A Raja spoke about how there are two types of Hindus in Hinduism and how the privileged Hindus are against the empowerment of the OBCs by quoting the example of Upper Caste Hindus opposing the entry of OBCs and other marginalized sections into the AIIMS and other higher education institutions in the country. With this, he portrayed that the Upper caste Hindus and the parties propagating the Hindutva are the real enemies of Hindus in this nation.

We can come to the conclusion that all the Dravidian parties DMK, VCK, and DK are giving serious thought to adopting the ferocious style of Periyar to counter the BJP, and RSS. If this happens, then we can consider this a ‘New start for Dravidian Politics in the country’.