Naam Tamilar Katchi

In 1958, Adithanar founded the "We Tamils" party (நாம் தமிழர் கட்சி) with the platform of forming a sovereign Tamil state. The party's stand was more radical than the Dravida Nadu demand of E. V. Ramasamy's Dravidar Kazhagam. It wanted the creation of a homogeneous Greater Tamil Nadu incorporating Tamil speaking areas of India and Sri Lanka. The party's headquarters was named Tamiḻaṉ Illam (lit. The Home of the Tamilian). In 1960, the party organised statewide protests for the secession of Madras and the establishment of a sovereign Tamil Nadu. The protests were marked by the burning of maps of India (with Tamil Nadu left out). Adithanar was arrested for organising them. The party along with M. P. Sivagnanam's Tamil Arasu Kazhagam was also involved in the movement to change the name of the state from Madras State to Tamil Nadu.[6]

Following the closure of the Sri Lankan Civil War in which over 175000 of Tamil civilians were wiped out and over 140,000 remaining unaccounted for, several activists in Tamil Nadu led by noted film director and Periyarism activist Senthamizhan Seeman, gathered in Madurai on 18 May 2009 to revive the party as a social outfit Naam Tamilar Iyakkam (We Tamils Movement).[7]

Chief-coordinator of Naam Tamilar Katchi, Seeman.

On 18 May 2010, a year after the military subjugation of the Eelam Tamils and on the first anniversary of the organisation, the Naam Tamilar Iyakkam was converted into the Naam Tamilar Katchi, with Seeman the Chief Coordinator of the Party stating that the party would be an alternate political party different from the mainstream political outfits and also claiming that the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam would be the moral goal of not just the party but Tamils in Tamil Nadu.[8]

During the formation of the party, Seeman added that "we are not founding the Naam Tamilar party, we are continuing with what S. P. Adithanar founded."[9]

The party has launched several agitations in demanding the state's share of water from upstream states, of the Kaveri and Mullaiperiyar rivers.[11][12] Seeman has also publicly criticized successive regimes' apathy on the issue as well as the illegal sand quarrying of the river beds in the state.[13][14]

In 2011-2012, when the state of Tamil Nadu was in the midst of a severe power crisis leading to exorbitant power tariffs and failure of industries in the state,[15] the management of Neyveli Lignite Corporation, a central government held entity in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu was contemplating divesting shares to private players. This immediately sparked public unrest in the state, and most of its employees organizing a massive strike against the central government's decision. The corporation is accused of then allegedly manipulating its workers and indulging in acts to swiftly play down the issue.[16][17]

The Naam Tamilar Katchi was among the forefront in opposing the decision, with Seeman declaring that the problem facing strikers was the prejudice of non-Tamil management against Tamil workers. He also attacked NLC for investing in other Indian states while there was an acute power shortage in Tamil Nadu.[16][18]

Seeman has observed of the deteriorating law and order situation in the state during the Congress-DMK alliance.[19] Seeman had also condemned the alleged assault of a group of Lankan tourists in Chennai. Seeman said that the party abhors violence in any form, and cadres who violate the party's principles of conduct will not be tolerated.[20]

Naam Tamilar Katchi has raised the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils who seek refuge in the country and their prolonged persecution at the hands of both the state and central governments.[21]

Naam Tamilar Katchi has vocally supported the life-commutation and release of those convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi case. Seeman has advocated that the party's stand was not limited to the lives of the three Tamils but for the total abolition of the death penalty in India.[22] Naam Tamilar Katchi had also called for the humanitarian release of prisoners languishing in jails for more than 10 years. The party also voiced its support towards closing down the Eelam refugees special camps in Tamil Nadu which, many believe, have become torture camps.[23]

Seeman vowed to retrieve Kachatheevu by creating 50,000 special battalion forces and invading the island single-handedly within one day [24] Sedition charges has been filed against him in this regard.[25]

Seeman stressed, that the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu should be a native Tamilan.[26] One of the slogan of Naam Tamilar Katchi is, that everyone has right to live in Tamil Nadu, but only a Tamilan has the right to rule Tamil Nadu as Chief Minister.[27] Seeman was criticized by media and individuals, that his statement being racist and accused him by of playing identity politics and dividing people based on ethnicity.[28] He was questioned by Tamil media as: "Who is a Tamilan? How do you define a Tamilan?"[29][30][31] The statement received criticism and also approval among Tamil nationalists.[32][33][34]

Naam Tamilar Katchi is against the Chennai-Salem Expressway project, which if constructed, according to the party, would be a disaster to the highly fragile ecology of the area, and would pave way for mining companies to do illegal mining of valuable minerals found in the Kalrayan Hills and Servarayan Hills located on the proposed path. Seeman protested against the implementation of the project, and was arrested along with his cadres on 18 July 2018.[35] The party also went ahead and filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court. The court quashed the Government Order that was published to acquire lands for the project.[36]

Though it did not contest in 2011 polls, the NTK spearheaded a large-scale campaign against the Congress Party in the 2011 Tamil Nadu legislative assembly election for their alleged role in the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka and various other anti-Tamil policies of the party.[38][39]

Naam Tamilar Katchi contested on its own in all of the 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu as well as those in the districts of Puducherry and Karaikal.[40] On 12 February 2016, all 234 Naam Tamilar Katchi candidates were introduced in Cuddalore on a stage by its leader Seeman. The party promote equal rights and has also included candidates with disabilities. It is the first party in the history of Tamil Nadu with a transgender candidate. On 2 March 2016, Seeman has introduced at a press meeting, that the twin candles is the election symbol of Naam Tamilar Katchi.[41] On 23 March 2016, Naam Tamilar Katchi published its election manifesto 2016.

Seeman openly challenged Arunan a CPM party member that he would score more votes than their PWF alliance in the 2016 state assembly elections failing which he vowed to dissolve his party and join the CPM.[42] The party scored less than the alliance overall and even less than NOTA.[43] Seeman's party lost everywhere with himself scoring 5th place in Cuddalore and lost deposit.[44] Seeman was asked by reporters about his challenge. He replied that he challenged the Communists and not the Vijaykanth + PWF alliance. He said that Naam Tamilar has scored more votes than every single party in PWF alliance, and so that he has won the challenge.[45] Naam Tamilar party scored 458,104 (1.1%) votes in 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly Election and was ahead of long-term political parties like MDMK, CPI, VCK, CPM and TMC.[46]

Naam Tamilar has fielded K. Kalaikottudhayam as its candidate for R.K. Nagar by-election and contest under ‘Twin candles’ symbol.[47] Seeman criticizes, that voters in Tamil Nadu give the symbols more attention than the candidates. He said the election commission, should replace the symbols with candidate numbers or give every election new symbols for the parties so that there is an equality.[48] He also criticizes the election commission for not making great efforts to stop the bribery of voters in R.K. Nagar and questioned them as where were the CCTV cameras were being placed as announced by them which were to be placed for monitoring for a free and fair election.[49] The Tamil Television Puthiya Thalaimurai TV made a survey in R.K. Nagar on "Which participating party is an alternative to DMK and AIADMK" the result was Naam Tamilar 11.72%, BJP 8.99%, DMDK 8.54%, CPI 5.45%, No one 62.67%.[50][51] R.K. Nagar by-election does not take place as planned on April 12, because the election rules were violated by large-scale bribery and corruption.[52] Seeman showed his dissatisfaction with the Indian Democracy and said it was not fair by the election commission to stop the elections and punish all, instead take steps to disqualify the parties who were involved in bribery.[53] R.K. Nagar by-election took place 21 December 2017, despite voter bribery allegations. It was alleged, that T. T. V. Dhinakaran gave voters around 10 000 Rs. per vote while AIADMK gave 5000 Rs. and DMK 2000 Rs.[54] The Independent candidate T. T. V. Dhinakaran won the election, while AIADMK and DMK took second and third place. Naam Tamilar occupied the fourth place with 3,802 votes.

Naam Tamilar Katchi contested on its own in all of the 40 constituencies in Tamil Nadu as well as in Puducherry.[55]

In the history of Indian general elections Naam Tamilar Katchi was the first one to offer 50 per cent quota for women in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by fielding 20 women in the total 40 Lok Sabha seats. The party is contesting 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and 1 seat in Puducherry.[56][57]

84,855 votes for H.Mahendran at Sriperumbudur constituency is the highest votes secured by NTK in 2019 lok sabha election.[58] 17,069 votes for V.Jainteen at Kanyakumari constituency is the lowest votes secured by the party in the state.[59] The exact votes secured by Naam Tamilar Katchi is 16,45,185.[60] Naam Tamilar Katchi's vote share in Tamil Nadu is roughly 3.909% as total votes casted in Tamil Nadu is 4,20,83,544.[61]