Tamil Nadu on Indian Politics

Madras High Court clears RSS route marches in Tamil Nadu for 25 October and 1 November

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 00:06:07 +0530

The Madras High Court on Friday, 16 October 2026, allowed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to hold route marches in Tamil Nadu on 25 October and 1 November, according to Hindustan Times and LiveLaw. Justice V. Lakshminarayanan disposed of the RSS’s petition after the Advocate General told the court that the state agreed to the marches, subject to modifications by local police.

Supreme Court upholds quashing of Tamil Nadu order on quota for converts to Islam

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 15:06:00 +0530

The Supreme Court on Thursday, 15 October 2026, dismissed an appeal by the Tamil Nadu government against a Madras High Court ruling that struck down a State order on reservation for people who convert to Islam. A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar held that a person who converts from the Hindu social order to a non-Hindu one cannot claim affirmative action under Article 16(4) of the Constitution merely on the basis of backwardness associated with the earlier status, according to Bar & Bench, The Hindu and The News Mill. The judgment text was not available to us; this report relies on those outlets’ accounts of it.

President Murmu appoints new Governors for Keralam, Karnataka, Odisha, Sikkim and Uttarakhand

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:06:20 +0530

President Droupadi Murmu on Monday, 12 October 2026, appointed Governors for six states, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique reported by The Hindu and The Indian Express.

The appointments

Tamil Nadu: Rajendra Arlekar, who had held additional charge of Tamil Nadu alongside Keralam, becomes full-time Governor of Tamil Nadu.
Keralam: O.P. Mathur, until now Governor of Sikkim, is appointed Governor of Keralam in place of Mr Arlekar.
Karnataka: Sudha Yadav is appointed Governor, replacing Thawarchand Gahlot, according to The Hindu.
Odisha: Braj Mohan Ram (spelt “Brij Mohan Ram” by The Hindu) is appointed Governor.
Uttarakhand: Dhal Singh Bisen is appointed Governor.
Sikkim: Dushyant Gautam is appointed Governor.

Background of the appointees

According to The Hindu, Ms Yadav is a former Lok Sabha member from Mahendragarh, Haryana (1999–2004), and was a member of the BJP’s Parliamentary Board from August 2022 until the new team under party president Nitin Nabin took charge. Mr Ram was a Lok Sabha member for Palamau, Jharkhand, between 1996 and 2004. Mr Bisen is a former MP from Madhya Pradesh and has served as a minister in the state government. Mr Gautam is a former Rajya Sabha member and served as BJP general secretary under J.P. Nadda’s presidency. The Hindu reports that Mr Bisen succeeds Lt. Gen. (retd) Gurmeet Singh, whose five-year term in Uttarakhand ended in September.

PM Modi and Tamil Nadu CM Vijay open Chennai Metro Phase II stretch, share stage

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 21:05:41 +0530

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay flagged off the first train on the Poonamallee Bypass-Vadapalani section of Chennai Metro Rail Phase II on Sunday, 11 October 2026, The Hindu and The Indian Express reported. The two later appeared together at a government function at IIT Madras, which The Indian Express described as the first time Mr Vijay had shared a dais with the Prime Minister at a major government event.