Dravidian parties include an array of regional political parties in the
state of
Tamil Nadu, India, which trace their origins and ideologies either directly or indirectly to the
Dravidian movement of
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. The Dravidian movement was based on the linguistic divide in India, where most of the
Northern Indian,
Eastern Indian and
Western Indian languages are classified as
Indo-Aryan, whereas the
South Indian languages are classified as
Dravidian. Dravidian politics has developed by associating itself to the
Dravidian community. The original goal of Dravidian politics was to achieve social equality, but it later championed the cause of ending the domination of North India over the politics and economy of the South Indian province known as Madras Presidency (Madras Presidency of British India consisted almost all of today's Tamil Nadu State and parts of Andhra Pradesh). Thus Dravidian politics incorporates elements of
Tamil Nationalism and has found support only in Tamil Nadu.