Karunanidhi Leaves Behind an Unmatched Legacy in TN Politics

Former Senior Managing Editor of ‘The Hindu’, V Jayanth traces the rise of the late Karunanidhi.

DMK Chief M Karunanidhi passed away at 94 after prolonged illness.

(Photo: The Quint)

DMK patriarch and five-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Muthuvel Karunanidhi breathed his last in Chennai’s Kauvery Hospital on Tuesday, 7 August, leaving behind a politically tumultuous Tamil Nadu.

Kalaignar, the Reformist

On 27 July, Kalaignar, as he was fondly known, entered his 50th year as the unchallenged leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (DMK) party in Tamil Nadu. It was incidentally also the day on which his health took a turn for the worse.

When Karunanidhi’s leader and founder of the DMK, CN Annadurai, died in office as chief minister of the then state of Madras in 1967, the succession was quite open.

Many expected his second-in-command VR Nedunchezhian to take over. But Karunanidhi thought otherwise. With the help of other leaders, and notably MG Ramachandran aka MGR, Kalaignar got elected as the next chief minister, and subsequently as party president.

Ever since, Karunanidhi has held on to the position and kept the DMK going. In fact, Karunanidhi did not hesitate to expel MGR, after single-handedly winning the 1971 general election. With Indira Gandhi’s Emergency, however, his government was dismissed in 1975. MGR formed his own party – the AIADMK – and went on to win the elections in 1977, and again in 1980 and 1984. Karunanidhi could not defeat MGR during the latter’s lifetime, but kept the DMK intact, and waited for an opportunity.

What helped to keep him and the party going was the the spirit of ‘Dravidianism’ which he exploited to the hilt with his explosive oratory.

Espousing Tamil culture and fighting against what was considered ‘Aryan’ or ‘Brahminical’ was at the core of Kalaignar’s rhetoric, as it was the very essence of Dravidian culture. Launched by EV Ramasamy aka Periyar as the ‘Self Respect Movement’, and championed by the Justice Party (the predecessor of the DMK), leaders and cadres of the DMK fought against superstition and Brahminism.

Kalaignar, the Rebel With a Cause

Karunanidhi was a scriptwriter par excellence, and made full use of cinema to propagate his views and the spirit of the Dravidian movement. The late Sivaji Ganesan's debut in Tamil cinema was historic because of the acerbic pen of Karunanidhi (who penned the dialogues of that film, namely ‘Parasakthi’). Karunanidhi later made use of MGR for propagating these ideas. After breaking up with him, MGR went on to conquer Tamil Nadu through his films and songs.

Two very important milestones that aided the growth of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu are the anti-Hindi agitation of the mid-1960s, and the consequent demand for a separate Tamil state.

Though the DMK had to abandon the separatist movement, the anti-Hindi sentiment still prevails. It was revived as a reaction to the present-day Central government's emphasis on Hindi. An offshoot of the anti-Hindi movement was the decision of the Karunanidhi government (after the 1971 victory) to rename Madras state as Tamil Nadu.

A Post-Karunanidhi Tamil Nadu

Though firm in his commitment to the Dravidian culture, Karunanidhi was a pragmatist. He did not mind aligning with Indira Gandhi’s ideology in the 1980s, despite the fact that it was Mrs Gandhi who dismissed his government in 1975 during the Emergency. Similarly, Karunanidhi forged an alliance with the BJP under Vajpayee (despite fighting the BJP and its perceived Brahminism), and the DMK even joined the NDA Cabinet. Karunanidhi wanted to assert his presence in New Delhi and by extension, in national politics, for the survival of the DMK.

Karunanidhi may have been an atheist but some of his family members do go to the temples regularly. And when the great Dravidian atheist leader was battling for his life, thousands of his followers were praying for his recovery and well-being. Regardless of whether or not the Dravidian spirit survives, the birth and growth of regional parties has certainly fostered regionalism and forced national parties to forge ties with them to secure a majority in Parliament.

In a post-Karunanidhi era, the Dravidian movement, which has already been diluted and weakened, is bound to lose more ground.

No matter how much his son and successor MK Stalin strives to keep the flag flying high with the help of fringe Tamil groups, he will not be able to command the same pull.

Karunanidhi's deep tone had a magnetic resonance – his “en uyirinum melana udanpirappe” (my siblings who are dearer than my life) voice will be missed.

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(The writer is a Chennai-based journalist, a former senior managing editor of The Hindu newspaper. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)