Periyar dreamed it, Karunanidhi did it, TN to UP

Tamil Nadu has been a trailblazer in women’s rights for decades, a fact highlighted once again by the state’s ruling DMK in light of Uttar Pradesh’s recent plans to grant married daughters equal rights in agricultural lands. What UP is attempting now, 35 years late, was already achieved in Tamil Nadu in 1989 when then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi amended the Hindu Succession Act for the state, ensuring women’s equal share in family properties.

The roots of this reform trace back nearly a century earlier, to Periyar E.V. Ramasamy’s visionary campaigns for gender equality. In 1927, the first conference of non-Brahmin youths in Chennai demanded equal property rights for girls, followed by successive resolutions in 1928 and 1929 advocating the same. Periyar’s foresight set a social and political precedent that Tamil Nadu carried forward, long before legal recognition elsewhere in India.

Uttar Pradesh, by contrast, has only recently begun considering changes to the Revenue Code of 2006 to grant similar rights, highlighting the state’s lag in embracing gender equality. While Supreme Court rulings, such as the 2020 judgement led by Justice Arun Mishra, have upheld women’s property rights nationally, UP’s delay shows how legal reform often clashes with entrenched social norms.

The DMK stresses that while progressive change may face conservative opposition, granting women rightful inheritance is a matter of justice and social equity. Tamil Nadu’s early adoption demonstrates that thoughtful policy, rooted in visionary ideas like Periyar’s, can lead to long-lasting societal transformation. UP now has an opportunity to follow this path, bridging decades of delay and moving toward true equality for women in property and society.

This story is not just about property rights; it is about vision, political courage, and the slow, uneven march of gender justice across India.