CHENNAI: ‘Kalaignar’ M Karunanidhi - the name without which the history of Tamil Nadu cannot be written, continues to live through his deeds. He will live longer thanks to the welfare schemes and other measures initiated during his lifetime that will stand forever.
Karunanidhi, five-time chief minister of Tamil Nadu, 13-time MLA, and 10-time president of the DMK had left his indelible mark in many spheres -political, social, literary, cinema, drama, etc and his numerous welfare schemes and political initiatives for the uplift of downtrodden people will be remembered forever by those who are benefitted by them.
The 620th verse of Thirukkural under the chapter - ‘Manly Exertion’ which speaks about the glory of hard work, says “They will snap their fingers even at destiny who succumb not to it but labour unremittingly in despite of it.” The 624th verse under the chapter ‘Intrepeditiy in the face of misfortune’ says: “Behold the man who is prepared to strain his every nerve like the bull-buffalo to wade through every difficulty; he may meet with obstacles but he will send them away disappointed.”
Karunanidhi, who wrote his commentary on Thirukkural, literally lived the full meaning of these two couplets. The general praise for him is that he is a multifaceted personality. But right from his childhood, he achieved everything by toil and nothing came to him so easily. Perhaps, there is hardly any other leader who received bouquets and brickbats in equal quantity in his lifetime and still stood his ground unfazed by the misfortunes.
In a nutshell, Karunanidhi was a born fighter.
The DMK was out of power for 13 long years but Karunanidhi led the party by sagacious political moves and kept the DMK alive. This he did despite many senior leaders deserted him after the DMK lost power and faced other political odds.
The historical protest Karunanidhi waged was against the Emergency imposed on June 26, 1975, when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister. MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) was enforced. Within 24 hours of proclaiming the emergency, Karunanidhi moved a resolution in the high-level committee of DMK vehemently opposing the Emergency. This is the first-ever resolution condemning the emergency in the whole of India. He also urged Indira Gandhi to release the national leaders arrested immediately.
Many of the national leaders went underground and took shelter in Tamil Nadu because the DMK government opposed the Emergency. Ultimately, the DMK government was dismissed on January 31 for making a resolution to save democracy. Many DMK leaders including Murasoli Maran, Arcot N Veerasamy, MK Stalin, and former mayor of Chennai Corporation, Chittibabu were arrested under MISA. Despite all these Karunanidhi stood his ground.
Though an atheist, Karunanidhi was well versed in the religious texts too and he wrote the script for the long serial on Vaishnavite saint Sri Ramanuja. Of course, there was a hue and cry from the Hindu outfits that Karunanidhi might distort the history of Ramanuja. But Karunanidhi explained that though Ramanuja was a spiritual leader, he was a revolutionary on many counts. But unfortunately, he could not complete the script for this serial.
But there was another side of Karunanidhi’s atheism. He has no hesitation to worship his language Tamil in the form of a Goddess. Interestingly, during his second tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, extended Rs.10 lakh as financial assistance for building a temple for Thamizh Thaai (Mother Tamil). This is the only temple dedicated to a language in the world.
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