Ahmedabad Times

It’s a piece of fabric, a gesture of respect amongst Tamil individuals. However over time, the melthundu — ‘mel’ which means higher, ‘thundu’ which means material — has come to imply far more than that. Forbidden at one level for specific communities, later reclaimed as a mark of protest, and now reimagined in get together colors, the straightforward shoulder material has change into central to the political tradition of Tamil Nadu.Netas throughout events, from DMK chief M Okay Stalin to ADMK’s Edappadi Okay Palaniswami, have these days been sporting chequered thundus in get together colors, a change from the extra acquainted stripes. However this isn’t the primary time the shoulder material has made a political assertion.The primary main second of the thundu springing to the centre of politics and id in Tamil Nadu was in 1924, throughout a nadaswaram efficiency that was attended by Periyar E V Ramasamy, pioneer of the Self-Respect Motion. In these days, individuals from decrease castes had been prohibited from sporting a scarf or material over their shoulders; solely individuals from dominant castes had been allowed to take action.On the occasion, a musician eliminated the towel from round his waist, wiped his face and positioned the material on his shoulder. The host of the occasion, from a dominant caste, objected, saying somebody from a “decrease caste” mustn’t put on the thundu on the shoulder. After this, Periyar launched the apply of inserting a scarf on individuals’s shoulders throughout features as a logo of dignity. Periyar’s followers additionally started sporting the melthundu as a political assertion. “Periyar turned the thundu into a logo of equality. It grew to become a means of claiming, ‘You might be my fellow human being’,” says Tamil author Olivannan G.“Since then, Dravidian politicians started to insist that these on stage drape the thundu over the shoulder, as a means of rejecting caste hierarchies,” says advocate V Kannadasan. “It started as a social equaliser and developed right into a means for leaders to create their political picture.”That evolution was seen within the types adopted by totally different politicians. DMK founder C N Annadurai at all times wore a protracted white scarf. Former DMK chief M Karunanidhi first wore a white one, then switched to yellow. MDMK founder Vaiko grew to become identified for his black thundu, worn as a mark of protest over points linked to the Tamil Eelam (in the course of the Sri Lankan Civil Struggle).“Clothes is taken into account to be one of many main instruments that Dravidian events have utilized in politics. Veshti-shirt and melthundu are worn as conventional Tamil male apparel,” says political anthropologist Nisar Kannangara. “That’s why PM Modi at all times wears one when campaigning in Tamil Nadu. He wore it throughout his 2019 assembly with Chinese language President Xi Jinping within the state to attraction to Tamil sentiments.”Within the Nineteen Seventies, the thundu was used as a cinematic system. Actor and ADMK founder M G Ramachandran, who not often wore the shoulder material himself and as a substitute cultivated a trademark picture with darkish glasses and a fur hat, used the thundu in movies corresponding to ‘Idhayakkani’, supposedly to caricature Karunanidhi, his DMK rival. The movies featured characters sporting lengthy shawls and delivering verbose dialogue, says political science professor Subramaniam Chandran in a paper revealed in 2023.Nevertheless, clothier Purushu Arie, who traces the evolution of political apparel, says, “Distinctions at the moment are rising. Typically, inside events, easier cotton towels are meant for cadres, whereas silk shawls are reserved for seniors. Sarcastically, the material meant to erase hierarchy appears to be recreating it.”In recent times, most get together members within the state stopped sporting the thundu repeatedly. However within the run-up to the 2026 polls, the melthundu has made a comeback. This time, it’s much less about symbolism and extra about branding and standing out within the crowd.“We needed to attempt a brand new design,” says a DMK supply, referring to the black-and-red checked thundu that has made its debut. “The technique crew first used the chequered thundu in a celebration engagement programme with hamlet secretaries. It caught on and, this time, most employees and seniors determined to put on it as a substitute of the same old striped one.”

Chequered historical past

White to yellow

In 1989, on his return to workplace, M Karunanidhi was introduced with a yellow scarf by Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S Ramadoss, denoting the Vanniyar flag to honour his 20% reservation coverage for the neighborhood. He wore this yellow scarf for many years as a part of his trademark type, alongside together with his darkish glasses. He later gave varied explanations for it, together with comparability to Buddha’s yellow angavastram.

In Karnataka, ‘political fixer’s’ uniform

In a 2000 article in Asian Survey, political scientist James Manor says the phrase “towel over armpit” was used to explain small-time political fixers in Karnataka — intermediaries who moved between villages and govt workplaces, wielding “casual energy”. Although typically parodied, Manor says they play an necessary position in elections in most southern states.

When Prabhakaran refused the thundu

In a 2011 article within the journal Sanglap, Swarnavel Eswaran Pillai, professor at Michigan State College, says there was stress from the West on LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to desert his guerrilla fatigues for a contemporary “coat-suit apparel” or the “conventional white veshti– thundu” so he might current a extra “acceptable” political picture. Prabhakaran refused.

MGR scarf controversy

In 2020, a statue of MGR in Puducherry was discovered draped in a saffron scarf, triggering political protests. Whereas leaders condemned the act as an try to “saffronise” the Dravidian icon, CCTV footage later revealed {that a} girl had positioned it as a gesture of respect, unaware of the political implications.