Tamils are extremly proud of their language, history and heritage. And yes, significant portion of Tamils in TN (though still far from majority) identifies primarily as a Tamil, and Indian only by default. And in past, ethnic nationalism was even stronger. Alas, main opposition party in the state assembly, DMK was founded with the agenda of establishing independent Dravida Nadu, and dropped it from party platform only after patriotic fervour of Sino-Indian War in 1962.