The Madras High Court recently delivered what might be the most devastating diagnosis of Tamil separatism ever issued from a judicial bench. Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, while quashing a sedition case against two publishers, observed that anyone speaking about dividing Tamil Nadu into a separate nation today “will certainly be referred to as having mental health issues.”
The court wasn’t being flippant. It was making a profound observation about the irrelevance of separatist rhetoric in a nation unified “by heart and soul.” But the judgment also inadvertently provided the perfect framework to understand the political pathology of one man: Naam Tamilar Katchi chief coordinator Seeman or his cadre.
Watch them long enough, and you’ll witness a political identity in full-blown crisis – a group that claims Murugan as their “Muppattan” (great-grandfather) while swearing oaths on Jesus Christ. A group which demands a separate Tamil nation while fielding candidates for Indian elections. A man who calls Islamist terrorists “Appa” while claiming to be the defender of Tamil civilization. Does this look even remotely as ideology? It is nothing but an unhealthy kothu parotta shredded and mixed together.
Murugan As Ancestor, Christ As Witness
The recent Murugan controversy surrounding Jr NTR’s upcoming film has exposed Seeman’s ideological contradictions in the starkest terms. When the film’s poster tagline described Lord Murugan as “Born in the North… Worshipped in the South,” Seeman erupted. He demanded a ban on the film in Tamil Nadu and warned the makers of “severe repercussions” if they proceeded with what he called a distortion of Tamil history.
Seeman took to social media to declare: “From time immemorial, the most ancient, primal god of Tamils, inseparably intertwined with Tamil culture and way of life, is Lord Muruga Peruman. Tamil is Murugan; Murugan is Tamil; the two are inseparable”. He described the film’s portrayal as an “attempt to distort Tamil history and culture” and urged the Tamil Nadu government to ban the film if the contentious elements were not removed.
தமிழ் இறையோன், எங்களின் முப்பாட்டன் முருகப்பெருமான் வரலாற்றைத் திரித்து, தமிழர்களை இழிவுபடுத்தினால் கடும் எதிர் விளைவுகளைச் சந்திக்க நேரிடும்!
தமிழ் இறையோன் முருகப்பெருமானை மையப்படுத்தி “என்.டி.ஆர்-திரிவிக்ரம் என்ற பெயரில் ஆந்திராவில் தயாரிக்கப்படும் திரைப்படத்தில், ‘தமிழர்… pic.twitter.com/1zTIwtooi3
— செந்தமிழன் சீமான் (@Seeman4TN) July 5, 2026
A Politics That Changes With The Audience
This is the same Seeman who, just months earlier, stood on a Christian community platform in Chennai and swore on Jesus Christ that his party would never form alliances with national parties or Dravidian parties. The same Seeman has routinely called convicted Islamist terrorists “Appa” and “warriors worthy of worship.”
The contradiction is staggering. On one hand, Seeman/NTK insist that Murugan is not a Hindu god but a Tamil ethnic marker – an “ancestor” to be worshipped only through Tamil cultural practices, purged of Sanskrit influence and pan-Indian religious traditions. His party’s entire ideological framework treats Murugan as an “ethno-historical figure,” a deified tribal leader of the Kurinji landscape who belongs exclusively to Tamil civilization.
But when it suits him, he freely invokes other faiths to curry favor with different vote banks. He swears on Christ to appeal to Christian voters. He calls Muslim terrorists “Appa” to signal solidarity with Islamist groups. He demands that Murugan be seen only as a Tamil icon to mobilize Hindu votes while simultaneously rejecting the Hindu theological tradition that actually sustains Murugan worship across India.
The Separatist Who Takes The Constitutional Oath
Perhaps the most breathtaking contradiction is Seeman’s relationship with the Indian state. He has faced multiple sedition cases for speaking in favor of the LTTE and demanding a separate Tamil Eelam. Yet the same Seeman files nominations for the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, swearing allegiance to the Constitution of India. He fields candidates in all 234 constituencies. He demands votes from the same Indian citizens whose nation he claims to reject.
The Madras High Court was right: in today’s India, talk of dividing the nation doesn’t incite rebellion. It causes “annoyance.” The court called it a mental health issue. But perhaps the deeper pathology is this: Seeman knows separatism is a dead letter, knows Tamil Nadu has no appetite for breaking away, knows he will never win an election. And yet he continues the charade because it sustains his political brand.
The Collapse Of An Ideology
The Madras High Court called separatism a mental health issue. But the real crisis is political, not psychiatric. Seeman’s ideological incoherence reflects a deeper rot in Tamil politics – the substitution of policy with identity, of governance with grievance, of nation-building with nostalgia for a mythical past.
His embrace of convicted terrorists isn’t principled. It’s a vote-bank calculation. His rejection of Hinduism isn’t ideological purity. It’s an electoral strategy to differentiate himself from the BJP while simultaneously courting Hindu voters through Murugan worship. His separatist rhetoric isn’t a genuine commitment to independence. It’s a branding exercise for a party that has never won a single seat.
The Murugan controversy crystallizes this schizophrenia. Seeman spent years building his political brand around “Muppattan Murugan” – the ancestral Tamil god. But when a Telugu filmmaker attempted to depict Murugan within the pan-Indian Puranic tradition, Seeman screamed cultural appropriation. When Hindu devotees at the Thirupparankundram hilltop temple protested against animal sacrifice, Seeman sided with Islamist groups against Murugan worshippers.
He is true neither to himself nor to the faiths he claims to follow. And in that, he is perhaps the most accurate reflection of our times: a hollow man, shouting into the void, hoping someone is still listening. He is not dangerous. He is pathetic. His movement is not a threat to national security. It is a vanity project sustained by the liberal indulgence of a society that has stopped taking him seriously.
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