M Karunanidhi: The politician who never lost in politics nor gave up in life

Chennai: Chennai: Muthuvel Karunanidhi - known to millions of his admirers as Kalaignar - had been a fixture of Tamil Nadu politics for several decades. Throughout his political life, the late Karunanidhi stayed true and loyal to the larger principles of Periyar's Self Respect and was associated with the highs and lows of the Dravidian movements, which originated nearly 100 years ago.

Kalaignar, who began his stint in politics, cinema and poetry early in his life, always had a sound resonance with people of Tamilnadu. Whenever he was in power, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief came up with remarkable legislations that had a lasting impression in the socio-economic sphere of the state. Let us take a look at it

The beginnings

Born in a Nagapattinam village in Tamil Nadu, Muthuvel Karunanidhi's parents were from the Isai Vellalar community , a community of musicians that perform at temples and other social gatherings. Growing up in a caste-ridden culture, and from a lower caste Karunanidhi personally experienced the crippling and stifling casteism while growing up. When he was 14, he formed a student movement against the imposition of Hindi as India's national language during the Anti-Hindi agitation of 1937-40. This served as a forerunner to Karunanidhi's wider anti-Hindi demonstrations in 1965.

A champion of social justice, caste amity

Muthuvel Karunanidhi started his political journey when he was just 14 years old. As a young activist, he strongly challenged caste hierarchy in the country and was a part of Periyar's self-respect movement, which envisioned a society where oppressed castes would have equal rights with a focus on the rights of women. He had clarified that he opposed the caste inequalities associated with Brahminism rather than Brahmins

Self-respect marriages

One of Karunanidhi's earliest moves was to give legal and political backing for self-respect marriages, a Periyar ideal that the DMK inherited. It was a blessing for the poor families as they were unable to afford to pay for all the wedding ceremonies. The essence of self-respect marriage is all about solemnising a wedding without a priest and by dispensing with all rituals. The Dravidian model is broadly, social justice driven and all-inclusive growth. It was the DMK founder and late Chief Minister C N Annadurai who amended the Hindu Marriage Act in 1967 in its application to Tamil Nadu to legalise self-respect marriages in the state. It was the first legislative initiative by Annadurai after the DMK formed government in Tamil Nadu.

Property Rights to Women
Dravidian ideology has always had empowerment of women in the forefront of its political discourse. A remarkable move by Kalaignar is to give equal property rights to women. Until then only the male members of the family inherited the property of the parents, after the amendment of the Hindu Succession Act in 1989 by the Tamilnadu Government women were given equal rights on the family property.

Welfare Board of Transgenders

Transgender Persons Welfare Board. The board gave transgender persons the 'Aravani identity card', allowing them to apply for and get ration cards, driving licenses,voter IDs and other ID cards.

Welfare board for persons with disabilities

Kalaignar, and his DMK-led government also announced the setting up of a welfare board for persons with disabilities. The 'KannoLi thittam' scheme in the late 60s - a policy which provided free cataract surgery, among other things, for the visually impaired.

The advocate of Tamil Pride

His love for Tamil is well documented. He used it as a tool to bring people under one umbrella. Since Tamil was one of the pillars of his politics, it was an inclusive one. He opposed a move by the government to impose Hindi as an official language of communication in south India. It went on to become a huge cultural resistance in the Tamil land. His dream was of an Indian Union based on equality. Thus, he called for giving equal Constitutional rights and status to all the languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. A notification was issued on October 12, 2004 by the union government giving Tamil the classical language status. In 1970, he brought in a law which allowed any trained person, irrespective of caste, to become a temple priest. He symbolized Tamil pride-by opening Valluvar Kottam in Chennai, building Thiruvalluvar statue in Kanyakumari next to the Vivekananda rock and getting the classical language status for Tamil language.

Karunanidhi's political innings

Coming from a stigmatised caste of temple dancers and musicians, Karunanidhi was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative Assembly for the first time in 1957. In 1969, Karunanidhi was elected the DMK president, a post created for him following the death of party founder CN Annadurai and he continued to serve as the party's undisputed leader for over five decades. He won the Assembly elections in 1971, only to see his government being dismissed early in 1976 during the Emergency. Karunanidhi's influence spread far beyond Tamil Nadu. He bounced back as chief minister in January 1989 when Karunanidhi formed an alliance with the National Front under the then prime minister VP Singh. Two years later, his sympathies for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants in neighbouring Sri Lanka cost him his position as chief minister when former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the group. But despite this setback, in 1996, Karunanidhi returned with a sweeping majority, completing a full term. His party also joined the coalition government headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) AB Vajpayee in 1999. He lost the elections in 2001. The DMK then continued to play a key role in politics as it joined the Congress-led coalition in 2004 after it defeated the BJP. He was back in the driver's seat again from 2006 on the back of a manifesto that promised free TVs and rice for Rs 1 per kg. Even though the party did not come back to power after 2011, the DMK patriarch had maintained an active role in politics until crippling health issues ruled out active participation.

The Dravidian juggernaut who has a habit of winning

Karunanidhi has the record of never losing an election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, having won 13 times since his first victory in 1957. He was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after the demise of his mentor 'Anna', CN Annadurai. He went on to become Chief Minister in 1971, 1989, 1996 and 2006 and governed the state for a total of 19 years.

The Artist

To his die-hard fans and supporters though, Karunanidhi was known as Kalaignar, meaning artist. Even his political enemies admired his vast contribution to Tamil cinema and literature. Before entering politics, Karunanidhi worked in the Tamil film industry, establishing himself as one of industry's leading screenwriters. He used the medium of films and his command over Tamil language to reach out to the people and promote Dravidian ideology. A prolific writer, Karunanidhi wrote scripts for 67 films starting with Rajakumari in 2011 and Ponnar Sankar in 2011. He has authored 46 short stories, 13 plays, 10 novels, 2 novellas and 7000 letters he wrote daily in Murasoli newspaper. He also wrote literary pieces and lyrics for some film songs. He had even acted in some of the plays. His autobiography 'Nenjikku Needhi' (justice to the Conscience) runs into several volumes. He edited newspapers and magazines. Karunanidhi's love for the written word perhaps stemmed from the nature of the Dravidian movement itself. However, he never gained the swooning fan base that his political rivals - MG Ramachandran, and later Jayalalitha - enjoyed through their film stardom. In the theatrical world of Tamil Nadu politics though, Karunanidhi had also faced a number of corruption charges in his lifetime and there have always been questions regarding the rise of business empires owned by his sons and relatives. He regularly dealt with accusations of nepotism. His nephews controlled the TV business in the state, and he was frequently accused of ushering in dynastic politics in the DMK. However, the multiple allegations against him could not take away the distinct legacy Karunanidhi has left behind, be it in films, literature or in politics. Even as he rests at the Marina beach, Tamil Nadu has a reason to hope, dream and work for a better future for all. Taking forward the DMK legacy, chief minister M K Stalin seems to have managed to reach out to sections beyond party lines and earn encomiums even from opponents of the DMK.