M. Karunanidhi

M. Karunanidhi (2010)

M. Karunanidhi ( Muthuvel Karunanidhi ; Tamil : மு. கருணாநிதி Mu. Karuṇāniti [ ˈkaruˌɳaːnid̪i ]; born June 3, 1924 in Tirukkuvalai ; † August 7, 2018 in Chennai ) was an Indian politician of the regional party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He was chairman of the Tamil nationalist DMK from 1969 until his death in 2018 and served several times (1969–1976, 1989–1991, 1996–2001 and 2006–2011) as Chief Minister (head of government) of the state of Tamil Nadu . In addition, Karunanidhi was a prolific writer ( novelist , playwright and screenwriter ). From his followers he was given the honorary title Kalaignar ( கலைஞர் Kalaiñar [ ˈkalɛi̯ɲ̩ər ] "artist").

M. Karunanidhi was one of the founding members of DMK in 1949. In the 1950s and 1960s in particular, he worked as a screenwriter and dialogue writer for the Tamil film industry, and through his work he contributed to making Tamil film a vehicle for DMK party propaganda. Karunanidhi rose to become one of the most influential politicians of the DMK and, after the death of the party founder CN Annadurai in 1969, succeeded him as Chief Minister and party leader. In the 1970s he fell out with the actor and politician MG Ramachandran , who then founded the AIADMK party and replaced Karunanidhi as Chief Minister. After MG Ramachandran's death, Karunanidhi was re-elected as Chief Minister. Since the 1990s, the rivalry between M. Karunanidhi and the AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa , who took turns in the office of Chief Minister , shaped the politics of Tamil Nadu.

Career

Early years

M. Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924 in the village of Tirukkuvalai in what is now the Nagapattinam district near Tiruvarur . His father Muthuvel was a small farmer and herbalist, the family belonged to the Isai Vellala , a caste of temple musicians. Karunanidhi was his father's first son, who married for the third time after two wives died childless. Karunanidhi got its name after the village goddess of his hometown. Later Karunanidhi wanted to Tamilize his ( Sanskrit ) name into "Arulselvam", but had to give up his plan because of his father's resistance.

As a teenager, Karunanidhi turned to the Dravidian movement , at the head of which EV Ramasami (Periyar) polemicized against the influence of the Brahmins , the caste system and Hinduism and postulated a separate identity for the Tamils ​​as " Dravids ". At the age of 14, Karunanidhi took part in the protests in Tiruvarur in 1938 against the introduction of the North Indian language Hindi as a compulsory subject in schools in Madras state . In 1942 he founded the magazine Murasoli , which later became the party organ of the DMK. In addition, Karunanidhi worked as one of the editors of EV Ramasami's magazine Kudi Arasu and wrote dramas in the spirit of the ideology of the Dravidian movement.

Tamil film career

At the age of 20 Karunanidhi began working as a screenwriter for the Tamil film industry, first in Coimbatore , then in Madras ( Chennai ) . He was involved in about 60 films. He made his debut with the film company Jupiter Pictures as a co-writer with ASA Sami for the films Rajakumari (1947), with MG Ramachandran (MGR) in his first major leading role, and Abhimanyu (1948). From 1950 M. Karunanidhi began to spread the DMK ideology with his film scripts. It all started with TR Sundaram's films Manthiri Kumari (1950) and Sarvadhikari (1951), in each of which MG Ramachandran stood up as the main actor for DMK propaganda. For Krishnan - Panju - melodrama Parasakthi (1952) a story about three brothers and their sister, was Karunanidhi wrote the screenplay, dialogues and some lyrics. He is considered the best-known of his works for the film and glorifies the DMK ideology with a social reform and anti-religious message that opposes caste discrimination, brahminism and superstition. In the most famous scene of the film, a priest tries to rape the hero's sister in the temple of the goddess Parasakthi. Parasakthi sparked considerable controversy, but it was a huge hit and established the star career of lead actor Sivaji Ganesan . Other films written by Karunanidhi also dealt with social reform issues such as the remarriage of widows, untouchability or the Zamindar system. Three of his films fell victim to censorship in the 1950s. Other significant Tamil films with Karunanidhi's dialogues and scripts were SM Sreeramulu Naidu's MGR hit Malaikallan (1954), A. Kasilingam's Sivaji Ganesan film Rangoon Radha (1954) and the three films Manohara (1954), Thayilla Pillai ( written for LV Prasad ) 1961) and Iruvar Ullam (1963). Among these, the costume drama Manohara , set in the 11th century at the time of the Chola dynasty, stands out Khyber Pass came, characterized.

With MGR, his wife VN Janaki and PS Veerappa , Karunanidhi produced the film Naam in 1953 (director: A. Kasilingam). He later owned the popular Tamil cable channel Sun TV Network with Murasoli Maran , but withdrew from it in the 2000s.

Promotion at DMK

After CN Annadurai founded DMK in 1949 as a spin-off from EV Ramasamis Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), Karunanidhi joined this party and soon played a key role in it as an election campaign organizer and activist. He excelled above all in agitation: In 1953, for example, he led the protests in the town of Dalmiapuram , renamed after a north Indian industrialist , which called for the town to be given its original name, Kallakudi. In 1965 he took part in the anti-Hindi protests that broke out in Tamil Nadu when the Indian government tried to make Hindi the sole official language. Karunanidhi was arrested on both occasions, which earned him hero status in the DMK. When the DMK first moved into the Madras Legislative Assembly , the parliament of the state of Madras (later Tamil Nadu), in 1957, Karunanidhi was one of the party's first MPs. Through his Murasoli magazine and his role as DMK treasurer, Karunanidhi rose to become one of the party's leading politicians.

In 1967 the DMK won the elections in the state of Madras, which was renamed Tamil Nadu a little later, and replaced the Congress party in government. In the new cabinet under CN Annadurai, Karunanidhi held the offices of Minister of Public Affairs and Minister of Transport. After Annadurai's death in 1969, Karunanidhi prevailed against his party rival VR Nedunchezhiyan and was elected Annadurai's successor as party chairman and chief minister.

As chief minister and opposition leader

M. Karunanidhi (center) at a public appearance in 2006

M. Karunanidhi (in a wheelchair) at a public appearance in 2011

In 1971 M. Karunanidhi concluded an electoral alliance with the Congress Party and prematurely dissolved the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. In the early elections, DMK was able to impressively repeat its electoral success and won 184 of 234 seats, Karunanidhi was confirmed as Chief Minister in office. In 1972, however, the DMK split: MG Ramachandran, who had been able to use his immense popularity as a film star to take on an important role in the DMK, accused Karunanidhi of corruption and betrayal of the ideals of the party founder CN Annadurai and was expelled from the DMK. MG Ramachandran then founded its own party, the ADMK (later renamed AIADMK), and pulled a third of the members of the DMK with it.

In 1976, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who ruled under emergency legislation , ousted Karunanidhi's government shortly before the state elections and placed Tamil Nadu under President's rule for 18 months . An investigation into the corruption allegations against the DMK weakened the party, but Karunanidhi personally could not prove any offenses, so he retained his position as party leader and even emerged stronger from the crisis. The new elections in 1977 were won by the AIADMK, MG Ramachandran became Chief Minister and Karunanidhi became the leader of the opposition. MG Ramachandran was also confirmed in office in the next elections in 1980 and 1984.

After MG Ramachandran's death in December 1987, a follow-up dispute broke out in the AIADMK and the government sank into chaos, so that President's rule was again imposed. The new elections at the beginning of 1989 were won by the DMK against the AIADMK, which was split into two factions, so that M. Karunanidhi returned to the office of Chief Minister. Just two years later, in January 1991, Indian Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar resigned the Karunanidhi government on the grounds that it tolerated the activities of the Sri Lankan-Katamil terrorist organization LTTE in Tamil Nadu. During the following President's rule period, the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was murdered by an LTTE suicide bomber while campaigning in Sriperumbudur near Chennai. The DMK, which now believed it was close to the LTTE, was severely punished in the June elections and received only two seats in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. As a result, Karunanidhi was replaced as Chief Minister by J. Jayalalithaa , who had won the successor dispute in the AIADMK.

Faced with allegations of corruption and a bad mood, the Jayalalithaa government was unable to repeat its electoral success in the next regular election in 1996, so this time the DMK achieved a landslide victory and Karunanidhi was elected Chief Minister for the fourth time. But the official penalty also came into play in the next election, so that Karunanidhi was voted out again in 2001. Shortly after the change of power, Karunanidhi and several leading DMK politicians were arrested in a night and fog action on charges of corruption. The arrest was seen as politically motivated and created a crisis between the Tamil Nadu government and the central government.

After five years of Jayalalithaa's government, the DMK-led electoral alliance achieved another election victory in 2006 and M. Karunanidhi returned to the post of Chief Minister for the fifth time. In the 2011 election, however, the DMK was punished after a massive corruption scandal in which Federal Minister A. Raja and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi were involved, and Karunanidhi lost the office again to Jayalalithaa. In the next election in 2016, the now 91-year-old Karunanidhi again ran as DMK's top candidate. For the first time in 27 years, however, the AIADMK managed to defy the mood of change and repeat its election victory.

Familiar

At the age of 20, M. Karunanidhi married his first wife, Padmavathi. After Padmavathi's death, Karunanidhi married Dayaluammal in 1948. In the 1960s he took Rajathiammal as his second wife and has since been openly bigam .

M. Karunanidhi has a total of six children (four sons and two daughters). The son MK Muthu (* 1948) emerged from the first marriage with Padmavathi. With his second wife Dayaluammal, Karunanidhi has three sons, MK Azhagiri (* 1950), MK Stalin (* 1953) and MK Thamilarasu, as well as a daughter, Selvi. The youngest daughter Kanimozhi was born in 1968 to Karunanidhi and Rajathiammal. Karunanidhi's eldest son MK Muthu is an actor and singer. In the 1970s, Karunanidhi tried unsuccessfully to build him up to a competitor MG Ramachandrans. Three of the children have embarked on a political career in the DMK: MK Stalin was Minister for Rural Development and Local Administration in his father's cabinet from 2006 to 2011 and Deputy Chief Minister Tamil Nadu, MK Alagiri served as the All-India Minister for Chemicals from 2009 to 2013 Fertilizers in the cabinet Manmohan Singh II and Kanimozhi represents Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha , the upper house of the Indian parliament. In addition, another important DMK politician and former minister, Murasoli Maran (1934-2003), was a nephew of Karunanidhi. His sons are Dayanidhi Maran , who was also Federal Minister under Manmohan Singh , and Kalanidhi Maran , the owner of the Sun Group , which includes the influential television broadcaster Sun TV .

Karunanidhi's sons MK Stalin and MK Alagiri have long been competing to succeed their father. In January 2013, Karunanidhi named Stalin as his political heir. In January 2014, Alagiri fell out over the question of succession with Karunanidhi and was subsequently expelled from the DMK. Because of the close connection between his own family and the DMK party, Karunanidhi was accused of nepotism .

As a politician

Offices

In addition to his post as Minister (1967–1969) and Chief Minister (1969–1976, 1989–1991, 1996–2001 and 2006–2011) in Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi was a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislature from 1957 to 1983 and again since 1989 Assembly, the state parliament. He stood as a candidate in every election to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly since 1957, except for 1984, and was elected in each of his twelve candidacies. He represented various constituencies, most recently in 2011 the constituency of Tiruvarur . Between 1984 and 1986 Karunanidhi was a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council, the then upper house of the Tamil Nadu Parliament.

Karunanidhi has led the DMK party since 1969. He was most recently re-elected as party president for the eleventh time in January 2015 at the DMK party conference.

Political style and positions

Tamil Nadu's political culture is personality-oriented and shaped by charismatic leaders. M. Karunanidhi could never achieve the same popularity as his long-term competitor MG Ramachandran, who was downright deified by his followers, but also cultivated a charismatic leadership style. He underlined this through his public appearance: He always wore sunglasses and a yellow scarf as his trademark.

M. Karunanidhi took over the cultural nationalism of his predecessor CN Annadurai. Already this had given up the demands for secession and radical social reform, which shaped the early phase of the Dravidian movement, and replaced them with an evocation of the greatness of Tamil culture and language. Karunanidhi staged this cultural nationalism during his time as Chief Minister through monumental prestige projects and cultural mass events. In 1976 Karunanidhi had a monument, the Valluvar Kottam , erected in Chennai to the poet Tiruvalluvar , who wrote the work Tirukkural , which was highly regarded among the Tamils . In 2000, the Tiruvalluvar statue in front of Kanyakumari on the southern tip of India, which Karunanidhi had been planning since the mid-1970s, was completed. As a promoter of the Tamil language, Karunanidhi tried to further distinguish himself, for example by staging the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 as a great mass spectacle, as well as aligning his current political principles accordingly.

During the civil war in Sri Lanka (1983-2009) Karunanidhi showed solidarity with the Tamils ​​of Sri Lanka . In 2000 he called for a partition of Sri Lanka based on the model of Czechoslovakia (contrary to Indian reasons of state) . At times Karunanidhi was accused of sympathy for the rebel organization LTTE. An interim report by the commission investigating the murder of Rajiv Gandhi accused him of having operated the LTTE in Tamil Nadu and thus complicit in Gandhi's death. The final version of the commission report contained no allegations against Karunanidhi. In 2009, Karunanidhi caused a stir when he called LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran a "good friend" in an interview. Later, however, he qualified his statements and described the LTTE as a terrorist organization.

M. Karunanidhi described himself as an atheist and has repeatedly attracted attention through expressions critical of religion. In connection with the controversy about the construction of the Setu Canal through the Adam's Bridge between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, which is rejected by devout Hindus because, according to myth, the god Rama is said to have built the Adam's Bridge, Karunanidhi asked in 2007: “Who is this Rama? Which engineering school did he go to? ”. In doing so, he provoked protests from Hindu nationalist organizations. In response, Hindu fanatics in Bangalore , capital of the neighboring state of Karnataka , arson attacked Karunanidhi's daughter's home and attacked a bus arriving from Tamil Nadu, killing two people.

As an author

M. Karunanidhi was an extremely prolific writer. His followers therefore call him the honorary title Kalaignar ("artist"). By the age of sixty alone, Karunanidhi wrote 64 novels, 30 short stories, 14 plays and 35 film scripts. He wrote for Kumkumam magazine ; there were also numerous political articles, a. a daily comment in the party newspaper Murasoli . Kamil Zvelebil , in his account of the Tamil literary history, mentions Karunanidhi along with the also literary CN Annadurai as “two very committed authors, both of whom have shown considerable talent in promoting the interests of the Dravidian movement and its party through novels, short stories, scripts and plays to promote ”, but also notes that her works are“ according to purely aesthetic standards, more political manifestos full of eloquent words than sensitive and artistically perfect contributions to modern prose ”.

In the 1950s, M. Karunanidhi and CN Annadurai made a significant contribution to making the Tamil film industry a vehicle for DMK through his film scripts. Even after his rise to Chief Minister Karunanidhi continued his writing. Most recently, he wrote the script for the film Pen Singam (2010) and the text for the anthem set to music by AR Rahman for the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010.

literature

• Marguerite Ross Barnett: The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India. Princeton 1976.
• Jakob Rösel: The Shape and Origin of Tamil Nationalism. Berlin 1997.

Web links

Commons : M. Karunanidhi  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• M. Karunanidhi on the Tamil Nadu Government website
• M. Karunanidhi on the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly website

References and comments

1. ↑ Muthuvel (முத்துவேல்) is a patronymic and, as is common in South India, is prefixed to the name in abbreviated form, Karunanidhi is the nickname. Family names are not common in South India.
2. ↑ Jakob Rösel: The shape and emergence of Tamil nationalism . Berlin 1997, p. 93.
3. ↑ Sumathi Ramaswamy: Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India . Berkeley 1997, p. 225.
4. ↑ Rösel 1997, p. 94.
5. ^ Entry on the film Parasakthi in Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , p. 327 f.
6. ^ Robert L. Hardgrave Jr .: Politics and the Film in Tamilnadu: The Stars and the DMK . In: Asian Survey 13 (1973), here p. 292.
7. ↑ Hardgrave 1973, p. 293 f.
8. ^ Entry on the film Manohara in Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , p. 336
9. ↑ Ramaswamy 1997, p. 226.
10. ^ Robert L. Hardgrave Jr .: The Riots in Tamilnad: Problems and Prospects of India's Language Crisis . In: Essays in the Political Sociology of South India . New Delhi 1979, here p. 85.
11. ↑ ^{a b} Rösel 1997, p. 96.
12. ↑ Rösel 1997, p. 92 f.
13. ^ Marguerite Ross Barnett: The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India . Princeton 1976, p. 293.
14. ↑ Rösel 1997, p. 136 ff.
15. ↑ Rösel 1997, p. 141 f.
16. ↑ R. Manivannan: 1991 Tamil Nadu Elections - Issues, Strategies and performances . In: Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 27, No. 4: 164-170 (1992).
17. ^ Rival's revenge in Tamil Nadu , BBC News, July 1, 2001; Tamil Nadu crisis reaches Delhi , July 1, 2001.
18. ^ New leader for Tamil Nadu state , BBC News, May 12, 2006.
19. ↑ Anuradha Raman: The Wives & Wherefores , Outlook India, June 8, 2009.
20. ↑ Barnett 1976, p. 295.
21. ↑ Mother (s) of all berth battles . In: The Telegraph , May 23, 2009
22. ^ The Hindu, January 6, 2013: "Yes, Stalin is clear choice for DMK chief". ( Memento from January 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
23. ↑ The Hindu, January 24, 2014: “DMK suspends Alagiri”.
24. ↑ His father's heir . In: Indian Express , June 1, 2009.
25. ^ Profile of M. Karunanidhi on the side of the Tamil Nadu government.
26. ^ Karunanidhi re-elected as DMK party leader . In: The Hindu , January 9, 2015.
27. ↑ cf. Aseema Simha: The Regional Roots of Developmental Politics in India: a Divided Leviathan . Bloomington 2005, pp. 207 f.
28. ↑ cf. Rösel 1997, pp. 108-124.
29. ↑ Monumental achievements . ( Memento from August 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: The Hindu , March 13, 2010.
30. ^ The Political Uses of Tamil . In: Indian Express , June 25, 2010.
31. ↑ Tamil Development - Policy Note 2010–2011 (PDF)
32. ^ Tamil politician rapped for remarks . BBC News, June 6, 2000.
33. ^ Prabhu Chawla: Rajiv Gandhi killing: Jain Commission report indicts DMK for colluding with LTTE. India Today, November 1, 1997, accessed August 8, 2018 . 
34. ↑ No adverse comments on DMK leaders in Jain report . In: The Hindu , February 14, 2004.
35. ↑ Karunanidhi brands LTTE 'terrorists'. Guf News, April 20, 2009, accessed August 8, 2018 . 
36. ^ Tamil Nadu leader joins God row . BBC News, September 19, 2007.
37. ↑ Rösel 1997, p. 94.
38. ↑ "Two very committed writers are M. Karunanidhi […] and CN Annadurai […], both of whom have shown considerable talent of advancing the interests of the Dravidian movement and their party by means of novels, stories, scenarios and theater pieces" , Kamil Zvelebil: Tamil Literature . Wiesbaden 1973, p. 283.
39. ^ "[Annadurai's and Karunanidhi's] writings, judged by purely aesthetic criteria, are rather political manifestos replete with eloquent words than sensitive and artistically finished contributions to modern prose" . Zvelebil 1973, p. 266 f.
40. ^ "Pen Singam," a Karunanidhi-scripted film, hits cinema theaters in State . In: The Hindu , June 4, 2010.
41. ↑ Theme song launched for world classical Tamil meet . In: The Hindu , May 16, 2010.

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on November 15, 2010 .