Love in time of elections to Tamil Nadu

During the electoral period at Tamil Nadu, a change of vocabulary was felt: what was formerly called Gourava Kolai (literal translation of Honorary Crime) are now widely called Anava Kolai (murders born from arrogance and caste pride). The semantic change has not come from political manifestos but from a consensus within the editorial staff, recognizing that there is no “honor” to kill.

However, language alone cannot hide the crisis. In 2025, inter-Cast marriages have has burst into one of the main electoral issues of the state, in competition with jobsinflation and THE promises not held – like those made up THE Sanitation agents in Chennai – for voters.

The young population of Tamil Nadu

According to the 2011 census, people aged 5 to 9 (7.69 %), 10 to 14 years (8.56 %) and 15 to 19 years (8.67 %) formed a large share of the Tamil Nadu population. Today, this cohort – now aged 19 to 33 – is the most likely generation of falling in love, which would make many of them vulnerable to violence based on caste.

The past year was marked by brutal reminders. The murder of the technician Dalit Kavin Selvaganeh in Tirunelveli, allegedly in the hands of his girlfriend’s family, and the murder of Vidya to Tiruppur by her brother made the headlines.

Despite official government data reporting a single honor crime in five years (2017-2022), the rights defense groups and the media presented at the High Court of Madras claim that 400 murders of this type took place between 2018 and 2023.

“There is no separate arrangement for inter-Cast marriages at Tamil Nadu. Consequently, love weddings can be celebrated in the Marxist party offices through the Tamil Nadu. The Marxist Party offices remain open to lovers,” said August 25 P Shanmugam, secretary of state of the Indian Communist Party (Marxist), which is part of coalition in power.

Political position

The chief minister MK Stalin, of which Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has long claimed the torch of social justice, told the assembly in 2024 that “Process the files appropriately And translating the accused before the law is a better solution than to introduce new legislation.

After Kavin’s murder has given this crime under the spotlight, the party avoided promising a new law. Managers like Kanimozhi have expressed their grief while highlighting the need for public measures rather than systemic reforms.

The AIADMK, led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami, took the opportunity to attack Stalin’s failure to brake caste murders and the maintenance of partisan order. Spokesperson Kovai Sathyan accused the DMK of reducing social justice to “speech on paper”.

Even DMK allies were less restricted.

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A story of “love politics”

Tamil Nadu has already experienced flirtations with romance politics. As the 2014 elections approached, Kumar Sri Sri, a former make -upman, launched the Indian Lovers Party (ILP) with the “love politics” slogan and a glass of strawberry ice cream as an electoral symbol. The party failed to make electoral gains but reported that love and caste could be political fracture lines.

A decade later, these fracture lines are at the heart of the dominant policy.

Calculation of castes

Resistance to inter-Cast marriages is not abstract: each region has its dominant caste group-the Gounders to the west, nadars in the south, Thevars in the central belt, the vanniyars in the north-all historically suspicious to the idea that their children marry dalits.

Loyalty to parties reflect this geography. Misconception about the various state votes banks go As follows: Gounders and Thevars lean towards AIADMK, Nadars are more open to BJP, Vanniyars to have PMK, while the dalits remain Vck Central base. The DMK and the Congress rely on the minorities, and the left parties support it to balance this equation.

It is here that Vijay, actor who became a politician, calls Strongly towards young people, could have reshaped the speech. But despite the anger of the public in the face of the murder of Kavin, he spoke little of the crimes of honor. There was no mention of the question in his Very watched speech in Madurai last week.

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