| Candidate Name | தொல். திருமாவளவன் |
|---|---|
| State | Tamil Nadu |
| Party | United Progressive Alliance |
| Constituency | Chidambaram(SC) |
| Candidate Current Position | VCK Party Leader, MP |
Tholkappiyan Thirumavalavan as better known as Thol. Thirumavalavan is a political leader, scholar and activist from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He is a Member of Parliament from Chidambaram. Leader and President of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi.
He rose to prominence in the 1990s as a bahujan leader, and formally entered politics in 1999. His political platform centres on ending caste-based discrimination and consequently the caste system. He has also expressed support for Tamil nationalist movements in Sri Lanka.
Political career:
He contested the 1999 and 2004 general elections unsuccessfully and won the 2009 general elections from the Chidambaram constituency. He won the 2001 state assembly elections in alliance with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a post from which he resigned in 2004 quoting ideological differences with DMK. In 2019 Thirumavalavan regained his Chidambaram seat and has been a vocal Opposition MP. In 2021, he led his party to win 4 seats in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly.
Education Quality:
He did his Bachelor's course in Chemistry at Presidency college Chennai, Master's degree in Criminology and pursued Law at Madras Law College. He completed his Ph.D. at Manonmanium Sundaranar University titled "Religious conversion of Meenakshipuram Dalits – a victimological study" and was awarded his doctorate in 2018.
Political views:
Thirumalavan's politics are grounded in Ambedkarite and Dravidian philosophies as well as a retheorization of Tamil nationalism, which seeks to turn it into a force for annihilation of the caste system.
Film career:
Thirumavalavan played a guest appearance as a Tamil militant leader in Sri Lanka in his first film Anbu Thozhi, directed by L. G. Ravichandran.
Thirumavalavan was cast in the leading role of a film titled Kalaham to play the character of Balasingham, a law college professor, which was being directed by Kalanjiyam. The film later failed to materialize. He also appeared in a song in Mansoor Ali Khan's Ennai Paar Yogam Varum. In 2011, he played the role of the Chief Minister in Minsaram movie.
