ABSTRACT
Issues of culture and identity have continually been a feature of Indian politics since 1947. During the last two decades of the twentieth century India witnessed a sustained intensification of politics based around such issues. The prominence of identity-based ideologies in Indian politics over the past 20 years is not the only indication of the decentring of the nation. The formation of Hindu nationalist-dominated governments at the centre tends to obscure the equally important, though diffuse, development of regional political movements. The centralised vision of the Indian nation, favoured by Congress, which informed the Indian Constitution was also contested in southern India at the time of Independence. Subramanian argues that the achievements of the Dravidian parties should be seen as their contribution to the deepening of the associational life, and hence the relative civil harmony, of the state of Tamil Nadu.
