Karunanidhi: A colossus in Dravidian politics
Chennai, Aug 7 : Muthuvel Karunanidhi was one of the last links to the Dravidian movement that ushered in the rise of backward classes in politics and the end of Congress rule in Tamil Nadu five decades ago on the plank of social justice.
A five-time Chief Minister, the 94-year-old Karunanidhi, who strode the public life of Tamil Nadu like a colossus, also played a key role in national politics when he aligned with Indira Gandhi in 1971 and reaped rich rewards in elections.
But he staunchly opposed the Emergency of 1975-77 during which his government was dismissed on corruption charges. He was banished to the opposition ranks till the death of his friend-turned-foe and iconic film hero M.G. Ramachandran or MGR in December 1987.
Under Karunanidhi, the DMK occupied a prime position in the UPA governments at the Centre in 2004 and 2009 and earlier in the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpyee, an alignment that surprised many given the party's Dravidian moorings.
He was a wily politician who succeeded his mentor C.N. Annadurai or 'Anna' as Chief Minister in 1969 and kept a stranglehold on the party and government. He remained the President of the DMK for nearly 50 years, a rare feat in any democratic country.
Always sporting dark glasses, which became his trademark identity, and in later years a yellow stole, which critics said was against the atheism he preached.
With the death of his arch rival J. Jayalalithaa in 2016 and his departure now, Tamil Nadu is left with a void.
Born in Tirukkuvalai in the erstwhile Thanjavur district on June 3, 1924, Karunanidhi was a multifaceted personality -- journalist, playwright, script writer -- whose fiery dialogues as an iconoclast in films unleashed changes in Tamil Nadu's social scene.
He joined the Dravidian movement as a teenager under the tutelage of the late social reformer 'Periyar' E.V. Ramasamy and Anna.
'Kalaignar', as Karunanidhi was called for his proficiency in arts and literature, fashioned theatre and cinema in a way that gave a fillip to the Dravidian movement and the rise of DMK as a major pole in Tamil Nadu.
Karunanidhi's political fortunes rose when Anna broke away from the DK to float the DMK in 1949. The box office hit of Tamil movie 'Parasakthi' for which he wrote the script and a 'rail roko' agitation in Kallakudi near Tiruchirapalli made him known throughout the state.
He ascended to the DMK throne and the Chief Ministership following the death of party founder Annadurai in 1969.
Karunanidhi had the party in his strong grip till the end despite presiding over two major splits and being out of power continuously between 1977 and 1989.
Born in a poor Isai Vellalar (a backward caste) family, he was named Dakshinamurthy by his god-fearing parents Muthuvel and Anjugam. He later changed that to Karunanidhi, a Tamil name shorn of any Brahminical or Sanskrit tinge.
He also took part in the anti-Hindi agitations of 1937-40 and published a handwritten newspaper 'Manavar Nesan' (Friend of Students) and later formed the first student wing of the Dravidian movement, Tamil Nadu Manavar Mandram.
The anti-Hindi agitation was revived by the DMK in 1965, leading to massive anti-Congress sentiments amid much violence.
Karunanidhi also published 'Murasoli', a monthly which grew to become a weekly and the DMK's official daily. Last year it celebrated its platinum jubilee.
He contested his first Assembly election in 1957 from Kulithalai successfully and since then has not lost any of the 13 elections he contested.
His fortunes gained further strength when the DMK won the 1967 elections and Annadurai made Karunanidhi the Minister of Public Works.
After Anna's death in 1969, Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister. He led the DMK to a landslide win in 1971.
Bad times started soon after. Perceiving the popularity of movie hero and party leader MGR as a future threat to him, Karunanidhi began sidelining him and ousted him in 1972.
MGR floated the AIADMK that took power in 1977. He cultivated the Congress well -- sharing liberally the Lok Sabha seats while retaining his hold on the Assembly -- to effectively consign the DMK to the opposition benches.
DMK's fortunes revived in 1989 when it won handsomely assisted by a split in AIADMK, with one faction led by its founder's widow Janaki Ramachandran and the other by Jayalalithaa.
However, in 1991, the DMK government was dismissed in the wake of heightened activities in Tamil Nadu of Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers whose vocal supporter he was. After Rajiv Gandhi's assassination by a LTTE suicide bomber in May 1991, the AIADMK under Jayalalithaa swept to power.
The DMK suffered a second split in 1993 when Karunanidhi saw fiery speaker Vaiko as a threat to his son M.K. Stalin's ascendancy in the party and expelled him.
After that it was a see-saw battle with people choosing DMK and AIADMK alternatively. In 2006, the DMK was voted back to power for its populist promises.
In 2011 Karunanidhi promised more, but the DMK lost the battle. In 2016 too, it suffered the same fate.
A staunch opponent of Congress and its dynastic rule during earlier days, Karunanidhi later changed tact and paved the way for his progenies' progress within and outside the party.
He brought his sons -- through his second wife Dayalu - M.K. Alagiri and M.K.Stalin -- into the party. Alagiri became Union Minister while Stalin was declared the political heir. However Alagiri was dismissed from the party later for anti-party activities.
Karunanidhi made Kanimozhi, his daughter by his third wife Rajathi, a Rajya Sabha member.
After the death of Murasoli Maran, his nephew, conscience keeper and the party's face in Delhi, Karunanidhi got the former's second son Dayanidhi Maran a Cabinet post in the central ministry in 2004 and 2009.
With coalitions becoming the norm at the Centre, the DMK started siding with BJP and Congress to get cabinet berths.
It was the Sarkaria Commission which first stamped Karunanidhi as corrupt in the matter of allotting tenders for the old Veeranam water project.
Though Karunanidhi was jailed several times during his long political innings, what shocked many was his midnight arrest by the Jayalalithaa regime in 2001 on corruption charges.
His wife Dayalu and daughter Kaimozhi were questioned by the CBI over corruption charges.
When the Sethusamudram Canal Project got mired in controversy, Karunanidhi shocked the nation by wondering aloud whether Lord Rama was an engineer to build bridge across the sea.
Karunanidhi donated his home at Gopalapuram to a trust to convert it into a hospital for poor after his and his wife Dayalu's lifetime.
Karunanidhi is survived by his two wives Dayalu and Rajathi, sons M.K. Muthu, Alagiri, Stalin and M.K. Tamilarasu and daughters S. Selvi and Kanimozhi and grandchildren.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Ajit Doval briefs Putin on Modi's Kyiv visit
New Delhi, Sep 12: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday briefed Russian President Vladmir Putin on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv amid renewed efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict.
Doval met Putin at the Konstantinovsky Palace in St Petersburg on the margins of a conclave of the (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) grouping.
"As the prime minister told you during a telephone talk that he was keen to brief you about his visit to Ukraine and his meeting with President Zelenskyy. He (PM Modi) wanted me to come and personally brief you about the talks," Doval told the Russian President.
The NSA said the Modi-Zelenskyy talks were in a very "close format".
"I have come here on the direction of Prime Minister Modi who has conveyed his highest regards to you. His visit to Moscow was greatly successful and he was highly satisfied with the visit," Doval was heard conveying to Putin in a video released by Russian media.
The Putin-Doval meeting came nearly three weeks after Modi travelled to Ukranian capital Kyiv and held talks with Zelenskyy.
Last week, the Russian President, speaking at a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok named India, Brazil and China as possible intermediaries that could play a role in resolving the conflict.
In the meeting with Doval, Putin proposed a bilateral meeting with Modi on October 22 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan next month.
The summit of the grouping will be held in Kazan from October 22-24. Modi is set to attend the summit.
In his talks with Zelenskyy, Modi said both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an "active role" to restore peace in the region.
The prime minister said India was on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict and he would even like to contribute personally for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
Modi's nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine, the first by an Indian prime minister since its independence in 1991, came six weeks after he held summit talks with Putin in Moscow.
In the last few days, there has been calls for India's potential role in pushing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as New Delhi has good relations with both the nations.
India has been maintaining that the conflict in Ukraine must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.
On Saturday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni following her talks with Zelenskyy said India and China can play a role in finding a solution to the dragging conflict.
A Kremlin readout of Putin-Doval meeting said the Russian president "noted the successful development of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia and stressed the importance of security issues in bilateral relations, thanking the Indian side for maintaining dialogue in this area."
It said the Russian president proposed the bilateral meeting with Modi to "summarise the outcomes of joint work" on the implementation of the agreements reached during the Indian leader's visit to Moscow and to outline prospects for the near future.
"We are waiting for our good friend Modi and best regards to him," the Russian media quoted Putin as saying in the meeting with Doval.
On Wednesday, the NSA held wide-ranging talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu focusing on important issues of "mutual interests".
"Both sides reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and discussed important issues of mutual interest," the Indian embassy in Russia said on the talks between Doval and Shoigu.
