The Split
As the party gained prominence, many in the party wanted to contest in the elections and implement their ideology through democratic means. Among these were Annadurai and his followers. However, Periyar argued that politics will force ideology to the background and Dravidar Kazhagam remained a social organization. Moreover, many felt that a greater Dravida Nadu was impossible and even Periyar resigned to the fact that even an independent Tamil Nadu would be a remarkable achievement. With a straining relationship in the organization, Periyar, supreme leader of the party, married Maniammai in her thirties, as an arrangement of the future of the party. Furthermore, he began to give more power and control to her and is even reported to have said that she would be his successor. This enraged some members of the party who broke up and formed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, later winning the elections in Tamil Nadu. The party was later headed by K.Veeramani after the demise of Maniammai.
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“Politics is, as it were, the gizzard of society, full of grit and gravel, and the two political parties are its two opposite halves,—sometimes split into quarters, it may be, which grind on each other.”
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