Thol. Thirumavalavan

Tholkappiyan Thirumavalavan (born 17 August 1962), better known as '''Thol.

Thirumavalavan''' is a political leader, scholar and activist from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

He is a Member of Parliament from Chidambaram.

Leader and President of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi.

In 1988, when working for the government's Forensic Department in the southern city of Madurai, he met Malaichamy, the Tamil Nadu state convenor of the Dalit Panthers Iyyakkam (DPI), an organisation that fought for the rights of Dalits.

He rose to prominence in the 1990s as a bahujan leader, and formally entered politics in 1999.

His political platform centres on ending caste-based discrimination and consequently the caste system.

He has also expressed support for Tamil nationalist movements in Sri Lanka.

Thirumavalavan later met Suba Veerapandian again in September 1990 at Periyar Thidal (headquarters of the Dravidar Kazhagam).

Following Malaichamy's death, Thirumalavan was elected the leader of the DPI on 21 January 1990.

He designed a new flag for the organisation and changed its name to Viduthalai Chiruthaigal (Liberation Panthers).

As part of his work, he also began visiting Dalit villages in the Madurai region, and began learning about the problems faced by Dalits.

The killing of two Dalits in 1992, he says, made him more militant.

He was particularly noted for his aggressive speeches which gained him significant recognition.

Against the background of increasing Dalit assertiveness, he emerged as one of two major Dalit leaders in Tamil Nadu, with a large base of grassroots support, particularly in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

During early 1997, he was suspended from his government job on account of his increased political activity.

He contested the 1999 and 2004 general elections unsuccessfully and won the 2009 general elections from the Chidambaram constituency.

He resigned from his job formally in August 1999 to contest the 1999 Indian general elections.

The DPI boycotted elections until 1999 general elections.

It is unclear why the party did not contest elections until 1999.

The decision of contesting the election in 1999 was considered controversial within the party.

Thirumavalavan allied with G. K. Moopanar's Tamil Maanila Congress and represented the Third Front.

The party contested in the Parliamentary constituencies of Chidambaram and Perambalur.

Thirumavalavan contested in Chidambaram, and managed to poll 225,000 votes in his debut elections.

Thirumavalavan alleged in one of his interviews on 22 February 2000 that the opposing DMK administration used National Goonda Act and National Security Act to detain cadres of his party.

The phase also culminated the rivalry between Thirumavalavan's party and his competitors in the Chidambaram Constituency, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK).

PMK is a party that has a strong presence in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu.

The election in the constituency was marked by violence from both the parties.

Houses of Dalits were burnt and Dalits in the region were denied employment, while Vanniyar houses were also burnt.

He won the 2001 state assembly elections in alliance with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a post from which he resigned in 2004 quoting ideological differences with DMK.

He is an author, and has also acted in Tamil cinema.

His confrontation with Pattali Makkal Katchi and its leader Ramadoss has resulted in frequent clashes between Dalits and the Vanniyars.

Both parties have accused each other of instigating violence against the other community.

Both Thirumavalavan and Ramadoss reconciled their differences and worked together during the period of 2004 to 2009, when they were part of the same electoral alliance.

at Manonmanium Sundaranar University titled "Religious conversion of Meenakshipuram Dalits – a victimological study" and was awarded his doctorate in 2018.

When he was studying at Madras Law College, Thirumavalavan got interested in the Eelam movement, due to Suba Veerapandian (who conducted a guest lecture on the topic).

In 2019 Thirumavalavan regained his Chidambaram seat and has been a vocal Opposition MP.

In 2021, he led his party to win 4 seats in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly.

He did his Bachelor's course in Chemistry at Presidency college Chennai, Master's degree in Criminology and pursued Law at Madras Law College.

He completed his Ph.D.