Tamil National Party was a short-lived political party formed in 1962 in Tamil Nadu, India. The party finds its roots with the split in Dravidar Kazhagam after which Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was formed. E. V. K. Sampath, a founding member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, left the party following differences with the party leadership. The differences arose due to the DMK's stance on achieving an independent nation out of Indian Union called Dravida Nadu. Nevertheless, within years the Tamil National Party was merged with Indian National Congress.
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E. V. K. Sampath and DMK
E. V. K. Sampath was nephew of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy and for a long time considered his political heir. He entered into a feud with Periyar after the latter married a woman much younger to him. Periyar soon after the marriage declared his new wife as his political heir and thus upseting Sampath's aspirations. The marriage itself had caused opposition within the Dravidar Kazhagam, the social organisation that Periyar was heading. E. V. K. Sampath along with C. N. Annadurai broke away from Dravidar Kazhagam and formed their own party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Differences on using movie media
Tamil cinema has been used extensively for popaganda for Dravidian politics. Although the Indian National Congress in the region did use movies and stars for propaganda, it was shunned upon by major Congress leaders. DMK to the contrary used the Tamil film industry as a major political organ. Thus movie stars held high ranks in the party. Sampath vehemently opposed the importance given to film stars in the party.
Birth of Tamil National Party
The differences between E. V. K. Sampath and Annadurai finally gave way on their stands on Dravida Nadu. Dravida Nadu was envisaged by Periyar E. V. Ramasami as an independent nation that included South India. Periyar and later Annadurai considered that remaining in the Indian Union meant accepting linguistic domination of the North and backwardness of the South. Nevertheless, after touring the Soviet Union, E. V. K. Sampath opposed the call for Dravida Nadu and declared that the idea of independent Dravida Nadu was an impossible task to achieve. With this difference E. V. K. Sampath and his supporters left DMK and formed their own party. Thus Tamil National Party was born in 1962. Some of the well known members of the party included Kannadasan, M. P. Subramaiam, Pazha Nedumaran and Shivaji Ganesan.
Policies of the party
The policies of the party were:
Merger with Congress
Soon after the departure from DMK Tamil National Party members closely associated with that of the Congress party. At that time Periyar and his Dravidar Kazhagam was close with Kamaraj the leader of the Congress party. Thus when Kamaraj invited Sampath to join the Congress, Sampath merged Tamil National Party with the Congress party in 1964.