Bharatiya Janata Party workers welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he, along with BJP president Amit Shah, arrives at the party headquarters to celebrate the party’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections in New Delhi (Photo: AP)

A piquant situation has arisen after the battle between two Dravidian majors AIADMK and DMK threw up a clear winner in the DMK, which may be the third largest party in the Lok Sabha. Curiously, both parties could draw heart from the results, with the AIADMK taking its alliance tally to 120 in the Assembly by winning nine seats in 22 bypolls, although the party suffered a virtual washout in the Lok Sabha polls, winning only one seat out of 38 that went to the polls. The DMK’s massive victory, despite the absence of its patriarch M. Karunanidhi, is not just a cyclical phenomenon as it also came in a show of anger at the rival which tied up with the BJP, seen as a Hindi party from North India. Narendra Modi’s magic didn't work well in Dravidian territory, and the AIADMK was without its charismatic vote-getter J. Jayalalithaa.

The DMK victory may come with the chastening thought that there is no power yet to be had in the state, nor a share of power at the Centre. But it was a phenomenal performance under M.K. Stalin, leader-in-waiting for decades while his father was alive. In the national context, the DMK’s return, after getting all 40 seats in 2004 and keeping two-thirds in 2009 to be a motive force behind the UPA until the falling out over 2G arrests, represents a bulwark against the rampaging Hindi-Hindu-Hindutva forces in at least one of two southern states, the other being Kerala. The message is that Tamil Nadu remains tightly insulted from national trends and piggybacking is the only option for any national party aiming for seats from the state.