Thol Thirumavalavan

The Dalit community's voice and the man of many hats, Thol Thirumavalavan, is a prominent political personality in India, a famous writer, an exceptional artist, an unbiased journalist, and an actor. Thol Thirumavalavan was born on August 17th, 1962, in a village called Anganur in Ariyalur district, Tamil Nadu. Thirumavalavan's parents are Ramasamy a. k. a Tholkappian and Periyammal. He had an elder sister Banumathi and two younger brothers, namely Senguttuvan and Parivallal. Following his schooling in his village, Thirumavalavan attended his pre-university course at Thiru Kolanjiappar Government Arts College.

Later, he went to Presidency College in Chennai to complete his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and a postgraduate degree in Criminology. In 1988, after his PG, Thirumavalavan joined Madras Law College to study Law. While working as the assistant scientist in the government's forensic department, Thirumavalavan left his job to concentrate on politics. In 2018, he received his Ph.D. from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University. Thirumavalavan's life took a tremendous turn when he came to Madurai owing to his work. He earned a position for himself in the Dalit Panthers Iyyakkam.

His political career started with the 1983 Eelam conflict. After this, he took part in several protests to support Dalits as the Tamil Nadu State Convenor of Dalit Panthers Iyyakkam. Following the death of Malaichamy, the DPI founder, in 1989, Thirumavalavan got elected as the Leader of the movement. Post his appointment as the Leader, Thirumavalavan changed the name of the movement to Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and designed a new flag. Thol Thirumavalavan had no faith in elections and avoided taking part in elections till 1999.

Because of the influence of G.K. Moopanar, Thirumavalavan contested for the Chidambaram and Perambalur constituencies to support G.K. Moopanar's third front. Though he lost his debut elections, Thirumavalavan delivered a great success by winning over 225 000 votes in Chidambaram and 1 00,000 votes in the Perambalur constituency. In the following years, Thirumavalavan lived up to the expectations in the 2001 Tamil Nadu State Assembly elections, where he contested in Mangalore, and 2009 and 2019 Indian general elections, both in Chidambaram.

As an excellent writer, Thirumavalavan has written some famous books, including Aththumeeru, Tamizhargal Hindukkala?, Eelam EnralPuligal, and Puligal Enral Eelam, Hindutuvathai Veraruppom, and many more. Also, Thirumavalavan has appeared in guest roles in the films AnbuThozhi, Ennai Paar Yogam Varum, and Minsaram.