Articles
Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the current Tamil Nadu chief minister celebrated his 82nd birthday on June 3rd. He was born in 1924. Perhaps since 1990, in Tamil Nadu it has become a convention to add an year to one’s nominal age [especially if the individual has passed the Biblical span of three score and ten years; see for example, ‘The Hindu’ news item of June 3, 2006 on Karunanidhi’s birthday]. This astrological practice is derived from the prevalent traditional custom in some cultures of adding the period of 10 months of fetal age into one’s stated age. It is based on the assumption that one’s life begins not on the individual’s day of birth, but on from the day of conception. Thus in most write-ups, we could note that Karunanidhi is felicitated as the “83-year old elder statesman from Tamil Nadu.”
By any scale of literary and social success from a poverty-drenched family background in Tamil Nadu, poet Kannadasan (1927-1981) was an equal in standing to Karunanidhi. Both were founder members of DMK and parted their political paths in 1961. Since Kannadasan had enjoyed unrivalled success in literary, cinema and journalism arenas, his critique on Karunanidhi’s politics cannot be interpreted as jealousy of a haggler. Thus, it is worth to read some excerpts of Kannadasan’s autobiography, in which Karunanidhi’s skills receive an unflattering portrayal. In these passages, Kannadasan had referred himself in third person singular – He. To quote,
“[In 1963] When Pundit Nehru visited Chennai, he had grown senile. How Nehru had been affected by the untrustworthy deeds of China! He recited a poem to him. An English translation was offered and Jawaharlal had stuck it in his sherwani suit. He then touched his feet and greeted him. The next day, Karunanidhi had satirized this act. Those feet – He had only greeted those feet which had served and labored to free India. Were those feet engaged only in buying houses and collecting property wealth?
On September 15, 1981, Karunanidhi was arrested for protesting against the Sri Lankan government’s actions on Eelam Tamils. He was released two weeks later on September 29th.
On July 27, 1983, Karunanidhi led a protest demonstration in Chennai, to condemn the ‘Black July’ atrocities against Eelam Tamils and plantation Tamils. He resigned his Anna Nagar constituency seat in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly to show his solidarity for the plight of Eelam Tamils.
On June 3, 1986, Karunanidhi’s 62nd birthday felicitation function was held in Chennai. To support the Eelam Tamil cause, funds were collected from his well wishers and pledged that such collected funds would be distributed to the Tamil militant movements.
You can say so.
Because nothing describes Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi’s position now better than the worrying trough cricketing genius Sachin Tendulkar has hit in recent times.
Look at the similarities:
Both are past masters and proven performers of their respective games - if the 74 international centuries tell the tale the Little Master, the fact that Karunanidhi hasn’t tasted failure in the 50 years he has been contesting elections speaks for the 83-year-old.
Both have contributed to cricket and politics more than what they have drawn from their respective fields.
An audio compact disc on Kalaignar Kaviyam (life history of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.) was released at a function in Chennai on 28 October.
Kalaignar Kaviyam is a poetic rendition on CD about the life and achievements of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi that were written as a book by lyricist Vaali a few years ago.
Addressing the gathering, Karunanidhi said such literary works gave him enthusiasm to work more for the Tamil language and society. Today’s youth have no interest in public life. They should strive to work for the betterment of the society in which they live. They should dedicate themselves for the land, where they were born, Karunanidhi said and added that youngsters should develop a passion for Tamil.
CHENNAI, JUNE 3. Leaders of several political parties today showered praise on the DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, for his contribution to Indian politics and society. Highlighting his multifarious achievements, they said he was a model worthy of emulation.
The former Prime Minister V.P. Singh; the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil; the Union Minister of State for Rural Development, A. Narendra; the All-India Congress Committee general secretary, Vayalar Ravi; the Pattali Makkal Katchi founder, S. Ramadoss; the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, G.K. Vasan; the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary, Vaiko; the State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), N. Varadarajan, and the State Secretary of the Communist Party of India, R. Nallakannu, spoke at length on Mr. Karunanidhi’s role in public life during the last six decades.