Thol. Thirumavalavan

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Tholkappiyan Thirumavalavan (born Ramasamy Thirumavalavan on 17 August 1962), better known as Thol. Thirumavalavan, is an Indian politician and activist from Tamil Nadu. He is a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha representing Chidambaram. He has been the leader and president of the political party Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi since 1990. Thirumavalavan studied criminology and law, and worked for a time in the forensic department of the Government of Tamil Nadu. He rose to prominence in the 1990s as a Bahujan leader, and his political platform centres on Ambedkarite and Dravidian philosophies, and ending caste-based discrimination and caste system. He is also a critic of Hindu nationalism, which he believes would homogenise Tamil society and lead to Tamils losing their identity. He has also expressed support for Tamil nationalist movements in Sri Lanka, including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a militant secessionist group banned in India. He has authored a few books, and also acted in few Tamil films. Thirumavalavan contested the 1999 and 2004 Indian general elections unsuccessfully from the Chidambaram constituency. In between, he was elected as the member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in the 2001 assembly elections from Mangalore. Subsequently, he has won the 2009, 2019, and 2024 Indian general elections from Chidambaram, while losing in 2014. He also contested in the 2016 assembly elections from Kattumannarkoil and lost. Thirumavalavan's confrontation with Pattali Makkal Katchi and its founder Ramadoss has resulted in frequent clashes between Dalits and the Vanniyars. While both of them reconciled their differences and worked together for a period in 2004 to 2009, when they were part of the same electoral alliance, both parties have often accused each other of instigating violence against the other community.