The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( 'Renaissance Dravidian Progressive Federation') is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

active in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n states of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

and Puducherry. It was established by Vaiko in 1994 after he left the

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...

History

Formation

Vaiko was a member of Rajya Sabha and a party activist of

(DMK). Vaiko grew in the party from his student days and actively participated in the party agitations and courted imprisonment several times. He was elected thrice to the Rajya Sabha. In 1994, he was forced out of the parent body as he was seen as a threat to DMK chief

Karunanidhi Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...

's son,

M.K. Stalin Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin ( , born 1 March 1953), often referred to by his initials MKS, is an Indian Tamil politician serving as the 8th and current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The son of the former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Stalin ...

. Vaiko along with some district secretaries announced the decision to start a rival party, which became the MDMK.

Support for Sri Lankan Tamils

Vaiko voiced support for Tamils during the Sri Lankan Civil War, including for the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

specifically and their goal of secession from Sri Lanka.

Support for the Mullaperiyar Dam

Kerala government was keen to demolish the

Mullaperiyar Dam Mullaperiyar Dam , is a masonry gravity dam on the Periyar River in the Indian state of Kerala It is located above the sea level, on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District of Kerala, India. It was constructed b ...

because of safety concerns. However, the dam's reservoir is a prime source for irrigation for more than 8 districts including

Theni Theni is a valley town situated in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu at the foothills of Western Ghats. It is the headquarters of the Theni district, located in a distance of 70km from Madurai. It is known for the large-scale trading of garlic, c ...

. As a result, Vaiko led an agitation against Kerala government.

Split in MDMK

With the looming possibility of a vote of confidence in Parliament against UPA, two party MPs, L. Ganesan and Gingee N. Ramachandran, claimed that they enjoy the support of the majority of party cadre and decided to pledge support to the UPA government. They later withdrew their claim and joined DMK when it was found that they had forged letters of support of party executives.

Boycott of Assembly Election 2011

Due to issues in seat sharing, MDMK quit the ADMK Alliance and boycotted the 2011 Assembly elections of

and Puducherry.

Sanchi Protest

The MDMK protested the Sri Lankan President

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...

's visit to

Sanchi Sanchi is a Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometres from Raisen town, district headquarter and north-east of Bh ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second ...

in September 2012. Vaiko and his party members traveled to Sanchi. People who traveled through roadways were stopped by the police near Gadchiroli. Some party members tried to reach the spot by rail and air but they were detained by police before reaching

MDMK snap ties with NDA

The MDMK left the BJP-led

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a centre-right to right-wing and conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded in 1998 and currently controls the government of In ...

in December 2014, accusing the BJP of acting against Tamil interests. This came after heavy criticism of the party from BJP lawmaker

Subramanian Swamy Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu n ...

Party flag and symbol

The election symbol is a top. The colour of the top and bottom panel is red and middle panel is black. The party has a weekly journal called ''Sangoli'' which carries news and write ups for party workers.

Election history

They contested in many elections and won in a few and boycotted 2011 elections, and despite the UPA alliance in which they were in winning majority seats in Tamil Nadu and all over India in 2004 elections, in 2014 elections they couldn't do the same in Tamil Nadu, despite their alliance winning the elections in other states. And in 2016 tamil nadu state elections they played a key role in forming the third front.

2017
R. K. Nagar Radhakrishnan Nagar (Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar) or R. K. Nagar, is a legislative assembly constituency in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area a ...
by-poll

After the defeat 2016 Elections, MDMK has slowly move towards DMK. Before R.K.Nagar bypoll Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) announced their support to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the Assembly by-poll. The alliance with DMK defined as a significant change because MDMK made an alliance with DMK after a decade.

2019 Indian Parliamentary Elections

MDMK continues its alliance with DMK, and they got one Lok Sabha seat. Former Member of Parliament Ganeshamurthi, from Erode constituency, once again won. In this election, DMK alliance wins 38 out of 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu. MDMK gets one Lok Sabha seat and one Rajya Sabha seats, Lok Sabha seat allocated for former parliament member Ganeshamurthi and Rajya sabha seat allocated to General Secretary Vaiko. Vaiko Steps into Rajya Sabha after 20 years.

References

External links

Official Website of the party

MDMK profile listed in Library of congress
{{Indian political parties Dravidian political parties Political parties established in 1994 Political parties in Tamil Nadu 1994 establishments in Tamil Nadu Political parties in India