Dravida Nadu
The Dravida Nadu movement was a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for the Dravidians by establishing a sovereign state in the predominantly Dravidian-speaking southern regions of British India consisting of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. It was started by the Justice Party under Periyar and later the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by C. N. Annadurai.
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Initially, the demand of Dravida Nadu proponents was limited to Tamil-speaking regions, but it was later expanded to include other Indian states with a majority of Dravidian-speakers (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Karnataka). Some of the proponents also included parts of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Orissa and Maharashtra. Other names for the proposed sovereign state included "South India", "Deccan Federation" and "Dakshinapath".
The movement for Dravida Nadu was at its height from the 1940s to 1960s, but due to fears of Tamil hegemony, it failed to find any support outside Tamil Nadu albeit the largest ethnic group would have been Telugus. The States Reorganisation Act 1956, which created linguistic States, weakened the demand further. In 1960, the DMK leaders decided to withdraw their demand for a Dravida Nadu from the party programme at a meeting held in the absence of Annadurai. In 1963, the Government of India led by Jawaharlal Nehru, declared secessionism as an illegal act. As a consequence, Annadurai abandoned the "claim" for Dravida Nadu – now geographically limited to modern Tamil Nadu – completely in 1963.