While Women Lead, Tamil Nadu Election Becomes A Battle Of Ideas

I have been travelling across southern Tamil Nadu this election season, through the fertile stretches of the delta, the temple towns, and the bustling neighbourhoods of my own constituency in South Chennai. In these journeys, across rallies and quiet conversations that stretch late into the evening, one sentiment has repeated itself with remarkable clarity. This election, more than any in recent memory, has been an election for women. Across alliances, women have been spoken to, invoked, promised, and addressed.

Both ruling and opposition formations recognised that women stand at the centre of Tamil Nadu’s electoral strength. Yet, as weeks passed, it became evident that while both sides raised women’s issues, only one spoke from history, continuity, and lived governance. For the other, the language of women often appeared sudden and disconnected from legacy.

At rallies, I often pause before I begin speaking and look toward balconies and windows. I see hands emerging from behind curtains, bangles shimmering in the afternoon light. I have often wondered about the stories behind that quiet wave. That woman may not stand in the front rows. She may not chant slogans. Yet she is a voter. She is an economic contributor. She is a keeper of memory. She is an architect of modern democracy. Women’s centrality to Tamil Nadu’s political story did not begin today. It was built deliberately through decades of reform. It was Muthamizh Arignar Kalaignar who first advanced women’s right to property in Tamil Nadu, placing our state among the pioneers in recognising women as equal inheritors. That reform altered the structure of families and strengthened women’s economic independence. The foundations for this journey were laid earlier by Thanthai Periyar through the Self Respect Movement, where women’s dignity was declared inseparable from social justice. Perarignar Anna carried those ideals into governance, and Kalaignar transformed them into enduring policy. Even before these developments, pioneers such as Muthulakshmi Reddy fought for women’s education and public health, shaping Tamil Nadu’s early reform movements. Today, that legacy continues in new forms. Women are not passive beneficiaries of governance. They are active participants shaping public life.

This election made that legacy visible once again, but it also revealed something deeper. It became not only an election for women, but also an election about the very idea of Tamil Nadu. There were two competing imaginations of the state. One rooted in the Dravidian lens that sees Tamil Nadu as a land defined by rational thought, linguistic pride, social justice, and federal dignity. The other emerging from a New Delhi centric imagination that often reduces Tamil Nadu into administrative categories rather than understanding its cultural depth and social history. Women recognised this difference instinctively. Across districts, women spoke about governance in practical terms and about policies that had tangibly changed their lives under the leadership of the Hon’ble Chief Minister Thiru M.K. Stalin and the Dravidian Model Government.

The Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme emerged repeatedly in conversations. Women described how the monthly financial support strengthened their autonomy within households and gave them the confidence to manage expenses independently. Free bus travel for women has been another transformative step. The link between mobility and economic independence is supported by global research. Studies, including those by the World Bank, show that access to affordable transport increases women’s workforce participation and improves household income stability. Tamil Nadu has demonstrated this principle in practice. Women now travel to workplaces, colleges, and markets without calculating daily transport costs. Education has been equally transformative. Tamil Nadu today records one of the highest Gross Enrolment Ratios for women in higher education in India, crossing 49 per cent in recent years. The Pudhumai Penn scheme has played a crucial role in this achievement by ensuring that girls remain in education beyond school. Teachers across districts speak of improved attendance and reduced dropout rates among adolescent girls. Education, when supported, becomes empowerment. Another defining achievement has been the political activation of women at the grassroots. Today, more than 6,000 women councillors and 11 women mayors serve across urban local bodies in Tamil Nadu. This is not symbolic representation but structural inclusion that allows women to shape governance directly.

Yet, alongside these successes, women also spoke about anxieties created by policies from the Union Government. One recurring concern has been the disruption of rural employment security. Another instance of how women in Tamil Nadu have been placed under economic strain is through the handling of rural employment programmes. Delays in payments under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have created uncertainty for thousands of women who depend on this income for daily survival. In Tamil Nadu, women constitute more than 86 per cent of workers under such programmes, making them especially vulnerable to disruptions. Recent structural changes through the VB-G RAM-G framework have deepened this anxiety. While the scheme promises increased workdays on paper, ground realities suggest declining actual work availability. Data has shown sharp reductions in average workdays and in the number of households completing full employment cycles. For women who rely on these wages to support education, healthcare, and food security, uncertainty in income becomes a direct threat to dignity. These developments strengthened a larger perception that decisions made in distant corridors of Delhi often fail to recognise the lived realities of Tamil Nadu’s women. This is where the election acquired a sharper identity dimension. It became not just about schemes, but about autonomy.

Women spoke about governance that listens versus governance that instructs. They spoke about leadership rooted in local realities versus leadership shaped by distant assumptions. Under Chief Minister Thiru M.K. Stalin, women-centric governance has been systematic and measurable. Maternal healthcare indicators remain among the best in the country. Girls’ enrolment continues to rise. Public transport access has strengthened women’s participation in economic life. These are not symbolic achievements but structural outcomes. As I travelled across districts, I was reminded of Bharathiyar’s vision of the fearless new woman who walks with confidence into the future. I thought of Bharathidasan, who imagined women as builders of modern society. Their poetry feels alive in today’s Tamil Nadu, where women move forward not with hesitation but with clarity.

The debate around delimitation further deepened the perception of Tamil Nadu versus Delhi. Women recognised that linking women’s reservation to demographic-based delimitation created uncertainty about fair representation. States like Tamil Nadu, which invested heavily in education and population stabilisation, risk disadvantage under population weighted formulas. Despite attempts to package these changes as progressive, the message did not resonate widely. Women in Tamil Nadu possess political memory. They understand that empowerment must be meaningful, not symbolic. This election therefore became both practical and philosophical. Practical because it addressed everyday concerns like education, transport, and livelihood. Philosophical because it raised larger questions about identity, autonomy, and federal balance.

Through every rally and conversation, I saw women standing patiently, often after long hours of work, sometimes with children beside them. Their presence was purposeful and their participation deliberate. As I reflect on these weeks of travel, I return to that image that stayed with me throughout the campaign. A hand emerging from a window, bangles shimmering in the sunlight, waving quietly yet confidently. That hand represents a woman who understands the stakes of this election. She knows that her daughter’s education, her household dignity, and her state’s identity are intertwined. It is because of women like her that the Dravidian ideology remains not only alive but enduring. Rooted in justice, anchored in equality, and sustained by the voices of women who have always been the true architects of Tamil Nadu’s progress.

(Views expressed are personal)

Thamizhachi Thangapandian is Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), South Chennai

This article is part of the magazine issue dated May 11, 2026, called 'While Women Lead? ' about Assembly Elections 2026 and how West Bengal may prove to be the toughest battleground for the Bharatiya Janata Party.