CHENNAI: Not even once in the election rat race, yet emerged as a force to reckon with; that’s S Ramadoss, the founder of PMK who hung up his boots after a political journey spanning 37 years. Ramadoss left his imprint in the social justice history of the state through his advocacy for total prohibition, environment preservation, and farmers’ rights. He was also known for his astute political approach in negotiating alliances and strengthening of his organisation.
Born on July 25, 1939, in Kilsiviri in present-day Villupuram district, Ramadoss graduated from Madras Medical College in the early 1960s. He briefly worked in a government hospital and later ran a private clinic in Tindivanam, providing affordable healthcare . His close interaction with the Vanniyar community and growing interest in public life gradually drew him away from medicine.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, he became active in campaigns for the cause of social justice and the welfare of backward communities, especially Vanniyars. His leadership of the Vanniyar Sangam that he launched brought him to the political spotlight. The defining moment came in 1987 when the Vanniyar Sangam launched a statewide agitation demanding internal reservation for the community under the Backward Classes category. A police firing that happened during the protest took as many as 21 lives.
After the DMK returned to power in 1989 and created a separate reservation category for Most Backward Classes, one of the movement’s key demands was met. It was in the same year that Ramadoss founded the PMK, with academician professor Dheeran becoming its first president.
Initially seen as a party representing the Vanniyar community, PMK gradually widened its scope to include social justice, education, healthcare, agriculture, environmental protection and prohibition. Under his leadership, 20 PMK MLAs won from the 27 seats it contested in the AIADMK alliance in 2001. In 2006, it joined DMK and won 18 seats and was instrumental in the minority DMK forming government. In the parliamentary polls, his party had a maximum of 5 MPs each in 1999 and 2004 and six union ministers between 1998 and 2009.
The rivalry between former CMs M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa gave PMK an opportunity to emerge as a key partner. From 1998, the party aligned, on various occasions, with AIADMK, DMK, NDA and UPA.