Periyar remains hugely influential and relevant to the politics in Tamil Nadu because of his stance on caste, social justice and rationalist worldview of religion. One need not be an atheist to understand and appreciate Periyar. He continues to be the chief patriarch of Dravidian movement and parties committed to social justice.
Periyar was one of the most underrated social revolutionaries and political philosophers of twentieth century. Indian political system and its north centric obsession placed him at the periphery more as a dissent than as an untiring crusader for social justice. This prejudice is due to the nature of political discourse revolving around the great divide based on Aryan-Dravidian identity, language, socio-religious and cultural ethos. Periyar challenged the foundations of Indian philosophy with its roots in the Brahmanical Hindu worldview of caste and karma.
