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[Children of Midnight] C. N. Annadurai: Founder of DMK

MAJOR KULBIR SINGH. Dated: 5/29/2017 11:56:02 AM

‘He was an Indian politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, a state in South India, from 1967 to 1969. He was the fi rst member of a Dravidian party to hold that post. He was well known for his oratorical skills and was an acclaimed writer in the Tamil language. He scripted and acted in several plays.’ MAJOR KULBIR SINGH Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly called Anna (“Elder brother”) or Arignar Anna (“Anna, the scholar”), was an Indian politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, a state in South India, from 1967 to 1969. He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold that post. He was well known for his oratorical skills and was an acclaimed writer in the Tamil language. He scripted and acted in several plays. Some of his plays were later made into movies. He was the first politician from the Dravidian parties to use Tamil cinema extensively for political propaganda. Born in a middleclass family, he first worked as a school teacher, then moved into the political scene of the Madras Presidency as a journalist. He edited several political journals and enrolled as a member of the Dravidar Kazhagam. As an ardent follower of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, he rose in stature as a prominent member of the party. With differences looming with Periyar, on issues of separate independent state of Dravida Nadu and on inclusion in the Indian Union, he crossed swords with his political mentor. The friction between the two finally erupted when Periyar married Maniammai, who was much younger than him. Angered by this action of Periyar, Annadurai with his supporters parted from Dravidar Kazhagam and launched his own party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The DMK initially followed ideologies the same as the mother party, Dravidar Kazhagam. But with the evolution of national politics and the constitution of India after the Sino-Indian war in 1962, Annadurai dropped the claim for an independent Dravida Nadu. Various protests against the ruling Congress government took him to prison on several occasions; the last of which was during the Madras anti-Hindi agitation of 1965. The agitation itself helped Annadurai to gain popular support for his party. His party won a landslide victory in the 1967 state elections. His cabinet was the youngest at that time in India. He legalised Self-Respect marriages, enforced a two language policy (in preference to the three language formula in other southern states), implemented subsidies for rice, and renamed Madras State to Tamil Nadu. However, he died of cancer just two years into office. His funeral had the highest attendance of any to that date, earning it a Guinness record. Several institutions and organisations are named after him. A splinter party launched by M. G. Ramachandran in 1972 was named after him as Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Annadurai was born on 15 September 1909 in Kanchipuram (then called Conjeevaram), Tamil Nadu in a lower-middle-class family. His father Nataraja Mudaliar was a weaver whereas his mother Bangaru Ammal was a temple servant and they had an intercaste marriage. He was raised by his sister Rajamani Ammal. At the age of 21, he married Rani while he was still a student. The couple had no children of their own, so they later adopted and raised Rajamani’s grandchildren. He attended Pachaiyappa’s High School, but left school to work as a clerk in the town’s Municipal office to assist with the family finances. In 1934, he graduated with a B.A. degree (Hons) from Pachaiyappa’s College in Chennai. He then earned a M.A degree in Economics and Politics from the same college. He worked as an English teacher[4] in Pachaiyappa High School. Later he quit the teaching job and began involving himself in journalism and politics. Though Anna initially belonged to the openly atheist Dravidar Kazhagam he later announced his stance towards theism as “Only one race, Only one God” (Onre Kulam Oruvanae Devan). Though secular to the core, he later described himself as a Hindu sans the sacred ash, a Christian minus the holy cross, and a Muslim without the prayer cap. Annadurai would attack superstitions and religious exploitation but would never fight against the spiritual values of society. He once explained his stance towards God and religion as “I do not break coconuts for Pillaiyar, (a form of worship) neither do I break his idols”. (Nan Thengayum udaipathillai; Pillaiyarum Udaipathillai) Annadurai’s interest in politics made him join the Justice party in 1935. The Justice party was formed by non-Brahmin elites in 1917. The Justice party originated with the Madras United League which was initially started as a work group that helped non-Brahmin students in Madras with accommodation and later grew into a political party under the efforts of leaders like C. Natesa Mudaliar, Sir Pitti Theagaroya Chetty and Dr. T. M. Nair. The party was named South Indian Liberal Federation S. I. L.F.) – popularly known as Justice party. The party had been in power in Madras Presidency since self-governance was introduced in 1920, until it was defeated by the Indian National Congress in 1937. By the time Annadurai joined the Justice party, Periyar E. V. Ramasami was the party president. Annadurai served as the sub-editor of the Justice magazine. He later became the editor for Viduthalai (Freedom in English) and was also associated with the Tamil weekly paper, Kudi Arasu. He started his own journal Dravida Nadu (named after the Dravida Nadu an independent state that the party called for). In 1944, Periyar renamed the Justice party to Dravidar Kazhagam and gave up contesting in the elections. The Indian National Congress, which had been fighting for the independence of India from colonial British rule, was dominated by Brahmins. Periyar assumed that independent India would bring South Indians, especially Tamils, under the dominance of Brahmins and North Indians. For these reasons Periyar called for 15 August 1947, the day of Indian independence, to be a day of mourning. Annadurai opposed this move and the schism between his supporters and Periyar widened. He saw the gaining of independence as an overall achievement of India rather than solely that of Aryan North.