Populism and politics in contemporary Tamil Nadu

Shifting approaches to slums in Chennai: Political coalitions, policy discourses and practices

“…Moreover, the use of electoral politics as a negotiation tool by the urban poor is discussed extensively in urban theory (Benjamin, ; ; Chatterjee, ; ). Many scholars have elaborated on slums in Chennai within the context of Dravidian politics (Arabindoo, ; de Wit, ; Pugh ; ; ; Raman, ; Subramanian ; Wiebe, ; Wyatt, ). Yet there has been little work which analyses the way in which political shifts have impacted slum policy approaches.…”

Combining clientelist and programmatic politics in Tamil Nadu, South India

“…Inevitably welfare commitments suffered. In 2006, and again in 2011, the DMK pitched hard for the votes of the lower status groups commonly identified with the AIADMK (Wyatt, 2012). The DMK's welfare policies, including those with a universal basis, helped the UPA alliance hold onto parliamentary seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections illustrating the electoral utility of programmatic policy.…”

Why Indians Vote: Reflections on Rights, Citizenship, and Democracy from a Tamil Nadu Village

“…Finally, although Dravidian politics has long been steeped in patronage politics and in a populist rhetoric that sought to reach out to the “common people” (Harriss ; Subramanian ; Wyatt ), more recently a significant shift has taken place away from clientelist politics towards an increased use of programmatic policies to attract votes (Wyatt ). While clientelism—in which appeals to voters are based on selective handouts of benefits and patronage—has certainly not disappeared, its relatively “poor record has encouraged political leaders to explore post‐clientelist approaches to governing” (Wyatt :30).…”

“…While standard school textbooks no doubt inculcate a sense of citizenship and make youngsters aware of their voting rights, we need to look beyond this to understand the particular commitment to voting in rural Tamil Nadu today. Answers can be found in the specific history of political mobilisation in Tamil Nadu that, as we set out in the introduction, has been characterised by a long legacy of populist mobilisation by the Dravidian parties that raised political awareness among the population, based on popular imagery and rhetoric of Tamil identity and Dravidian self‐rule (Harriss ; Wyatt ). Later, as more and more social groups began to feel disenfranchised within the dominant parties, new caste‐based parties, including Dalit parties, further raised awareness, especially among Dalits and low castes.…”