Self-respect movement is a part of the Dravidian Movement which also incorporates different phases and strands of the Justice Party, the Dravida Kazhagam or the Dravidian Federation (DK), the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or the Dravidian Progressive Federation (DMK), and the Anaith Indiya Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or the All-India Anna Dravidian Progressive Federation (AIADMK). In the year 1925, the Self-Respect Movement was founded by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, popularly called Periyar, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The movement bears the aim to achieve a society devoid of backward castes and people having equal human rights, thus giving encouragement to the backward castes to possess self-respect with regard to a society based on castes that viewed them to be in the lower ladder of the hierarchy.

Religion occupied a significant position in Ramaswamy`s political discourse as an instrument of power in the hands of the dominant upper castes, which supposedly sought to delay the arrival of the `Dravidian nation`. It was to be done away with since it was a source of oppression of the lower castes and women. Hence, Ramaswamy propagated atheism. According to Ramaswamy, if religion is a hindrance in the path to cultural, social and peaceful progress of the masses, then the very religion should be abolished. The significant threads of Ramaswamy`s political discourse in understanding his approach to Islam were: first, the liberation of subordinate social groups such as Dalits, women, and the poor was crucial to the development of the nation; second, the all-India nationalist movement, led by upper-caste elites, to win freedom from colonialism was a conspiracy to acquire power for themselves, and hence had to be opposed; third, subordinate social groups must find their own voices and speak for themselves; and finally, it was politically strategic to blur the boundaries between oppressed groups.

Islam emerged as a preferred choice in the self-respect movement to counter the oppressive nature of the Hindu caste system where the lower castes and women are the sufferers. Ramaswamy instituted a severe critique of the Hindu social system and its relations of dominance and subordination. It is in the context of such a critique of Hinduism that one has to consider the Self-Respect movement`s propaganda about Islam. Within such logic, conversion to Islam was useful for Dalits who sought relief from the caste system. If Islam was able to achieve the goal of this movement, it did not mean that Ramaswamy`s was a blanket endorsement of Muslims and their attitudes. On the contrary, his engagement with Islam was contextual and involved an equally unsparing critique of the religious and cultural practices of Muslims.

The Self-Respect movement was intended to restore to Dravidians their self-respect, which the caste system had denied them. It was also intended to enable Dravidians to get equal opportunities to participate in civic and public life. Ramaswamy energetically propagated the concept of Suyamariyathai or self-respect-the foremost thing that a Dalit needed was the realization of his/her self-worth. It is in the recovery of the self-worth of Dalits that Islam and the local Muslim communities acquired their relevance to the Self-Respect movement. Islam, for the purpose of this movement, would help Tamils achieve a caste-free egalitarian society. The Self-Respect movement made Islam a significant part of its propaganda; the principles of unity, rationality, freedom, and self-respect that it was said to espouse were presented as those that differentiated it from Hinduism and its oppressive caste system in India.

The major reason for the conversion of Dalits to Islam as stated by Ramaswamy was the problem of untouchability and pollution taboos. With a Dalit audience in mind, Ramaswamy contrasted Islam and Hinduism: untouchability was absent in Islam, and its scriptures and ideologies prescribed equality; Islam insisted on monotheism and condemned `idol worship`; Islam prohibited `vices` such as extravagance, alcoholism, and gambling, and there was a strong sense of solidarity among Muslims. An extension of this idea of solidarity among Muslims was pan-Islam.

Gender was also a significant to Ramaswamy`s critique of the conservatism of Indian Islam. He recognized that Islam gave certain rights to women on issues of property, divorce, and widow re-marriage. However, he was critical of Indian Muslims for following the purdah system.

The need to differentiate Islam from the Hindu religious and social system was important for the Dravidian movement to negotiate the power structures of caste within Dravidian society. In doing so, the protagonists of the Dravidian movement had to present Islam as an `ideal` faith, which they could recommend to the untouchables as a solution to their problems. While it made no attempt to gloss over the problems in Muslim practices, it was keen to present the Muslim communities as homogeneous and lacking in hierarchy and the `ideal` faith of Islam as inherently `pure and rational`. In this interpretation, the practices of `syncretism` were undesirable accretions from Hinduism.

The politics of the Self-Respect movement had an impact on the manner in which Islam was perceived among the general Tamil population in Tamil Nadu. First, the movement ensured that Islam was relevant in the Tamil context through the prescription of conversions to escape the caste system. Second, it legitimized Islam in the Tamil context by constantly differentiating it positively from Hindu social and cultural practices. This legitimacy enabled Muslims to enjoy a political space of their own and yet not be set aside as a separate community. This ensured that the Muslims of the Tamil region could be treated as yet another caste and considered autonomously as well; in both senses they were clearly an integral component of Tamil society.