Jeevan Singh Tamil

Jeevan Singh Tamil is the national president of the Bahujan Dravida Party (BDP) and a Supreme Court lawyer who takes up public interest cases for oppressed communities, Onmanorama reports. He was born at Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) in Tamil Nadu. His Hindu Dalit parents had converted to Christianity before he was born. As an adult he turned to Buddhism, and then to Sikhism, which he says could eradicate the caste system. He began studying Sikhism and reciting Gurbani in 2014 and was initiated in 2023. He describes himself as a Tamil-origin Sikh and a student of Kanshi Ram. Reports spell his name in different ways: Jeevan Singh Tamil in The Tribune's candidate list, Jeevan Singh Malla in Onmanorama, and Jeevan Kumar in one Tribune nomination report.

Key moments

• 2019: he starts the BDP as a movement, and tells a Punjab gurdwara that he wants to become a Sikh. He is asked to grow a beard and return after six months, Onmanorama reports. The BDP became a political party by 2023 and by October 2024 had units in 14 states.
• 10 May 2024: he files his nomination for the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat in Punjab, as a candidate of the BDP. Sixteen candidates were left in the contest. He said he stood there as a tribute to Kanshi Ram's 1996 victory from the seat.
• March 2026: the BDP announces an alliance with T. Velmurugan's Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi for the Tamil Nadu assembly election, with the BDP to contest 10 constituencies dominated by SC, ST and OBC voters, The News Mill reports with ANI inputs.

What he says. These are his views, as reported. He says the DMK and AIADMK have failed the lower sections of society and treat social justice as existing only on paper, and that his goal is social transformation, not just social justice. He says Dalits who converted to Islam in the 1980s still lack dignity, that many now look toward Sikhism, and that Sikhism is needed in Tamil Nadu. He says Mayawati has moved from Kanshi Ram's ideology toward Sarvajan politics. In Onmanorama's report he said that until there is a cultural change, Dalits, Adivasis and other backward classes cannot escape caste discrimination.

Why he matters here. He is a Tamil Dalit who has taken Sikhism as his faith and links his politics to Kanshi Ram, whose 1996 win at Hoshiarpur he cites, and to Periyar. The News Mill reports that he says he formed the party to carry out Kanshi Ram's ideas and to revive Periyar's ideals.