The victory of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) under the leadership of Joseph Vijay in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections has, for the first time since the DMK’s rise to power in 1967 and the launch of the AIADMK in 1977, broken the duopoly of Dravidian parties. It also appears to have upended the electoral arithmetic, moving beyond tactical alliances, money, and caste. In that sense, the verdict is a break from the past. It also signals a deep anti-incumbency sentiment against the DMK-led government. The scale of the upset is reminiscent of the historic 1967 election, when K Kamaraj — once hailed by Periyar as a “trueborn Tamilian” — was defeated by a relatively unknown student leader in Virudhunagar. TVK may not have a long history of grassroots mobilisation that characterised the DMK’s rise, and M K Stalin’s defeat is no less significant than that of Kamaraj. The DMK’s achievements did not resonate with the people .…