University of Georgia School of Law alumnus and adjunct professor Kannan Rajarathinam (LL.M. ’88) recently published a book, The DMK Years: Ascent, Descent, Survival (India Viking, 2024). The ‘DMK Years’ tells the story of how India’s democracy has accommodated the cultural nationalist aspirations of the Tamils. It also tells the seventy-five-year story of the DMK and the state of Tamil Nadu, once separatist but now India’s second-most prosperous state.      

Below is a full description of the book:

India has twenty states and eight union (federal territories). In April 2023, it became the world’s most populated country. It has 22 official languages, numerous ethnicities and people of all faiths.  

Uniting a country as vast and diverse as India is a herculean task. However, India’s democracy, which was adopted after the 1947 Partition, has shown remarkable resilience. The country’s quasi-federal constitution was designed with unity in mind, recognizing and valuing the diverse population as a key component of its unity.

Yet, India’s unity has not been without its challenges. The restive border states of Kashmir and Punjab are well known. However, there have been other less well-known challenges to the Indian Union. One such was from Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state where the sub-nationalist Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) or Dravidian Progressive Federation espoused separation since its founding in 1949.

As the DMK grew into a significant political force, the Indian Centre brought forward the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1962, banning any secessionist advocacy—even by peaceful means. The DMK dropped its demand and, in five years, became the ruling party in the state of Tamil Nadu. Since then, it has alternated in power there with its breakaway party, the All India Anna DMK, and has been part of the federal coalition for eighteen years.

The ‘DMK Years’ tells the story of how India’s democracy has accommodated the cultural nationalist aspirations of the Tamils. It also tells the seventy-five-year story of the DMK and the state of Tamil Nadu, once separatist but now India’s second-most prosperous state.      

Kannan Rajarathinam is an adjunct professor at the University of Georgia School of Law teaching a course on International Organizations. Between 1993 and 2022, he served the United Nations in various capacities, including senior political affairs officer, head of office, senior planning and coordination officer, chief civil affairs officer, and legal officer from Afghanistan to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Before joining the UN, he briefly taught at the University of Madras in India as a guest faculty member and junior professor and practised law. Presently, he serves on the Dean Rusk International Law Center Advisory Council.