Tamil Nadu is celebrating DMK patriarch and former chief minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi’s birth centenary for a year beginning June 3. Considering his contribution to state, regional and national politics, it is only fitting to celebrate it grandly. He died at 94 and remained the DMK President until his last breadth. Karunanidhi was chief minister for five terms spread over 19 years. He was DMK chief for ten terms and a legislator 13 times. Along with M.G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa, he dominated Tamil Nadu politics for decades. Karunanidhi was multi-faceted.

Growing up amid the Dravidian movement of the 1930s, he began his life as an activist and journalist. He later became a powerful scriptwriter who used films as a medium to spread the DMK message. He was many things to many people. He was ‘Thalaivar” to his cadres and a wily politician to his opponents. His autobiography Nenjukku Neethi gives a glimpse of his life and struggle.

Rising from humble origins and a champion of Dravidian politics, Karunanidhi joined politics at 14. When Annadurai launched the DMK in 1949, he was part of it. The DMK politics was built around two central ideological planks. The first was caste-based social justice, and the second was Tamil identity. It was anti-Sanskrit, anti-caste, and secular. Karunanidhi became an MLA in 1957, a minister in 1967 and chief minister in 1969.

He weathered many political storms. Indira Gandhi dismissed his government in 1976 when he opposed the Emergency. Meanwhile, his one-time friend M.G. Ramachandran split the party in 1972. He formed a new party, the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Since then, the DMK and AIADMK have ruled the state alternately. Karunanidhi remained the opponent to MGR and later J. Jayalalithaa but did not have die-hard fans like them.

The DMK remained out of power from 1977 to 1987 during the MGR regime; in 1991, in the aftermath of the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa won in alliance with Congress. Since then, the DMK and the AIADMK have alternated in power except from 2011 to 2021. In his own words, Karunanidhi said, “I have written stories and dialogues for 75 films. I have used my career in films to dispel ignorance among the people in the lower rungs of society, to light up their lives, to remove inequities in society, to spread socially reformative and progressive views and to make Tamilians aware of the antiquity, the sweep, the grandeur and the richness of their language.” He also dabbled in national politics.

DMK was part of all coalitions, including the 1989 United Front, the 1996 National Front, NDA in 1999, and UPA in 2004. Just before the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, I met Karunanidhi. I asked him how he and other senior leaders like comrade Jyoti Basu accepted Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s (a novice compared to them) leadership. True to his prediction, and to the surprise of many, the UPA defeated the Vajpayee government. As for why he declined to become the Prime Minister at the time of the formation of the United Front, Karunanidhi said, “I know my height.” But he played a role in installing prime ministers like H D Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral. Karunanidhi could always gauge the public mood correctly.

He made and unmade alliances based on electoral fortunes. As a consummate politician, he believed in no permanent enemies or friends in politics. Indira Gandhi got his government dismissed in 1976, but four years later, he became an ally of the Congress. He hobnobbed with political leaders virtually across the spectrum, switching sides, dumping some, and persuading others to support him. Karunanidhi played a crucial role in Indo-Sri Lankan relations. While MGR supported the LTTE, Karunanidhi had links with Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, which LTTE finished.

He criticised the India-Sri Lanka Accord. Karunanidhi’s critics blamed him for his government’s failure to take a decisive stand against the massacre of Sri Lankan Tamils in 2009. In the seventies, he also faced corruption charges, and the Sarkaria Commission partly acquitted him. The 2 G scam also was a black mark during the UPA era. On the plus side, despite consistent complaints that Karunanidhi had made the party his family property, he kept the cadres with him.

He prepared a smooth succession plan and made his son M.K.Stalin succeed him. As a good administrator, he built the basic infrastructure which became the basis for industrialisation in the state. Establishing the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation and a range of welfare boards enabled the state to attract investments. Karunanidhi outlived all his opponents.

But his place in Tamil Nadu and national politics will be remembered forever. He was known for constantly fighting with the Centre on states’ rights and federalism. The credit for keeping the Dravidian ideology for decades also goes to him. Karunanidhi will always be remembered as the most daring politician of his time. He has left behind a lasting legacy