Biography
Vignesh Rajahmani is a PhD student at the King’s India Institute at King's. His research so far has been across the disciplines of political science, sociology, and business studies, with professional experience in public policy, legislative research and political consulting of over 5 years.
He has consulted for India’s leading opposition party, the Indian National Congress and provided research support for state assembly elections in 2017 and 2018.
For the 2019 Indian general elections he worked in the election manifesto committee, following which he devised the strategy and development blueprints for two regional parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and All India Trinamool Congress in three states in the 2021 (Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) and 2022 (Goa) state assembly elections in India.
His interests include public policy, development in democratic societies, interplay of domestic politics and foreign policy, investment banking [owing to his short stint at Goldman Sachs] and social media.
Research
Thesis title: 'The Dravidian Pathway: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Transition of a Socio-Cultural Movement into Party Politics between Periyar EV Ramasamy and CN Annadurai'
Vignesh deploys a mixed methods approach to study the role of regional(ist) and / or subnational political parties in transforming socio-cultural movements in to electorally sustainable party politics in the Indian Ocean region.
Specifically, he investigates the transition of the Dravidian Movement, principally rooted in the anti-caste discourse, socio-economic mobility of marginalized communities and Tamil language, into party politics in the state of Tamil Nadu in India between 1949 and 1967, highlighting how this contributed to the socioeconomic mobility of marginalised communities.
Vignesh's research dissemination can be purposively classified into three impact categories – shaping understandings, providing expertise and connectivity, and influencing policy. He has authored and co-authored over 70 publications in regional, national and international platforms in English, Tamil and Hindi.
Vignesh has delivered seminars and talks on Dravidian politics and social justice at leading universities in the three continents of Asia, Europe, and North America.
Vignesh is one of the group leads of the 'Social Media Networks and (Dis)information' research group. He is the coordinator of 'Confronting Caste', a Seminar and Podcast Series from the King’s India Institute, and he is a member of the 'Cities, Climate, and Capital in the Greater Indian Ocean World' research group.
PhD supervision
Further details
See Vignesh's research profile