Mobilisation through Hindu ‘Sunday Schools’: The Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu) Experiment

Tamil Nadu has seen Dravidian political parties in power for the past five decades. Since 1967, its political system was governed either by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) or by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). Despite the entry of new political parties into a fragmented political system, the two Dravidian parties still wield power in the state. The Hindu nationalist1 political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and its predecessor, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), have since 1952 been trying to make an entry into the state dominated by Dravidian political parties. However, the attempts of the BJP/BJS have not produced any significant results except in Kanyakumari, the southernmost district of the state.