Sixty years ago in April, Kalaingar M Karunanidhi made his debut in the state Assembly after being elected from Kulithalai in Tiruchy district. The journey he began as a legislator in 1957 continues uninterrupted till this day, having won 13 successive elections from various constituencies on the ticket of the same party he later got to lead, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Known for his excellent speaking and writing skills in Tamil, he began his professional career around 1945 as a screenwriter for the film Rajakumaari, in which M G Ramachandran was the lead actor. Karunanidhi made films a vehicle of the Dravidian movement by injecting ideology in the story line, which at times led to controversies. After the demise of the venerated C N Annadurai in harness in 1969, he became chief minister and the party boss, and made the DMK the principal pole in Tamil Nadu politics. MGR floated the AIADMK three years later to offer a credible counter to the DMK, which it did successfully over the years.
Karunanidhi joined politics at the age of 14.
His political experience spanning 79 years, which includes 60 years as a legislator, is a humungous basket of wisdom. Close associates recall he has an anecdote for every occasion. And the memory of an elephant. Unlike the popular belief that politicians are late for events, he was punctual to a fault. Known to be a consensus builder, he would flare up at fibbing and non-performance. While he has the gift of the gab and is delightfully quick at repartee, Karunanidhi was more a creature of broadsheet journalism in the A B Vajpayee mould who was not comfortable with new media and sound bite journalism.
This newspaper has been a trenchant critic of Karunanidhi on policy matters and issues like nepotism and corruption, particularly the 2G scam, and the LTTE. But for the wisdom and experience he brought to the table, we have only one word. Respect. Both the DMK and TN need his margadarshan for many more years.