Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Chief of Makkal Needhi Maiam Kamal Haasan, and several political leaders across and beyond the state have been expressing their wishes to Thol. Thirumavalavan, the Chief of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, as he is celebrating his 59th birthday on Tuesday. Thirumavalavan has been serving as the Lok Sabha member from the Chidambaram parliamentary constituency in the current Lok Sabha. Being a prominent politician in Tamil Nadu, he is widely known for speeches and activism against caste and its related disparities and fighting caste discrimination imposed on Dalits. 

MK Stalin took to social media and expressed his birthday wishes to Thirumavalavan. In his note, the Chief Minister wrote, "Birthday wishes to panther of Dravidian movement and brother Thirumavalavan. He has been working as a leader of ideology and I wish that his thoughts and services would benefit this Tamil community for many more years to come!". Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan said, "Happy birthday to my dear brother Thirumavalavan, a selfless political personality of the Tamil community." Hundreds of the party cadres have been extending their wishes to their leader and observing his birthday as the day of elation for the Tamil community. 

As a scholar and lawyer, he rose to prominence in the 1990s as a Dalit leader. He had formally entered politics in 1999 with the prime ideology of ending caste discrimination and injustice against the Dalits. He has become an inevitable political face in Tamil Nadu with growing support and following. After completing his education, Thirumavalavan had begun working for the government's Forensic department in Madurai in 1988 and during his work, he met Malaichamy, the state convenor of the Dalit Panthers Iyyakam, an organization that fought for the rights of Dalits. Following Malaichamy's demise in 1989, Thirumavalavan was elected the leader of the Dalit Panthers and he had designed a new flag for the organization in 1990 and he also changed the organization's name Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi.

Thirumavalavan had then begun visiting Dalit villages in and around Madurai and began learning about the issues faced by the Dalits and on the ground of disparities against the Dalits, he became a prominent Dalit leader in Tamil Nadu. In 1997, Thirumavalavan was suspended from his government job as the sequel of his increasing political activity. He had formally resigned from the government job in August 1999 and contested in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls from Chidambaram. However, he had lost to the PMK candidate and in the 2001 Tamil Nadu assembly polls, he had contested from Mangalur constituency, Cuddalore in the DMK's ticket and won the race by defeating the TMC candidate. 

He entered the state assembly for the first time and entered the Parliament for the first time in 2009 after he was elected as the Lok Sabha MP from Chidambaram. However, he had lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to ADMK candidate Chandrakasi and triumphed over the ADMK candidate Chandrasekar in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Chidambaram. His party had done well in the 2021 assembly polls. VCK had contested in the assembly polls in the DMK alliance and won four seats including in general constituencies. 

திராவிடச் சிறுத்தை சகோதரர் @thirumaofficial அவர்களுக்கு இனிய பிறந்தநாள் நல்வாழ்த்துகள்!

கொள்கைக் குன்றாக உருவானவர்; கொள்கைத் தலைவராகச் செயல்பட்டு வருபவர். அவரது சிந்தனையும் செயலும் இன்னும் பல்லாண்டுகள் இந்த தமிழ்ச் சமூகத்துக்குப் பயன் தர வேண்டுமென வாழ்த்துகிறேன்!

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) August 17, 2021

தமிழ்ச் சமூகத்திற்கு வாய்த்த தன்னிகரற்ற அரசியல் ஆளுமை, என் அன்புச் சகோதரர் திருமாவளவன் அவர்களுக்கு இனிய பிறந்தநாள் நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள். நீடூழி வாழ்க!

— Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) August 17, 2021