A few months ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow in Bhuj, Gujarat, where he was cheered on and people waved BJP flags. However, when PM Modi held a roadshow in Tamil Nadu, he was greeted with black flags and #GoBackModi began to trend on Twitter. Even though the BJP won seats in Tamil Nadu's elections for the first time in 20 years, and in its history, BJP has won seats in Tamil Nadu only twice - in 2001 and 2021 - the people of Tamil Nadu detest BJP and PM Modi. To understand why, we need to understand Tamil Nadu’s history. Decades before India gained independence from the British, a political revolution was brewing in the Madras presidency, which was a subdivision in British India that included large parts of what we know as South India today. The British opened up administrative posts for Indian men, but most of these jobs were offered to Tamil and Telugu Brahmin men. Brahmins had access to education and were proficient in English, which made it easier for them to obtain these jobs. The Justice Party was formed in 1916 to fight widespread casteism. At that time, the Justice Party was the only formidable opposition to Congress, as Congress was largely comprised of Brahmin leaders. However, there were a few non-Brahmin leaders in Congress as well, such as EV Ramasamy, who’s popularly known as Periyar, and who became a prominent leader of the Dravidian movement. In 1925, Periyar quit Congress and initiated the Self-Respect movement, which aimed to promote self-respect in the communities of Madras presidency that were historically marginalized and discriminated against by Congress and the British. Periyar sought to forge a new Tamil identity that surpassed caste and religion and took pride in the Tamil language and culture. This is why he promoted ‘self-respect marriages.’ In 1934, Periyar took charge of the Justice Party and renamed it. Since Periyar's main objective was to forge a Tamil identity, he became a staunch opponent of the imposition of Hindi on the Tamils. This is the reason why we frequently hear of protests and demonstrations opposing Hindi in Tamil Nadu.