He did not have the advantage of formal collegiate education. Yet, his political and administrative careers and achievements and literary works have been subjects of study and research for many a M.Phil dissertations and Ph.D. theses. On May 31 next, the Bharathiyar University of Coimbatore is bringing out 12 volumes of English translation of his literary works. He did not have the sophistication of cosmopolitan upbringing but was born in a humble family in a remote hamlet in Tamil Nadu, but still emerged as a statesman of international acclaim that the prestigious US Congressional Award has been conferred on him by the US Congress. He is the first Indian to get the honour. The award will be handed over to him by the functionaries of the New York Tamil Sangam at the World Classical Tamil Conference.
He was not formally imparted education in Tamil by any scholar or pundit or school, but penned an eclectic mix of fiction, novels, short stories, poetry and essays including ‘Tholkappia Poonga’, a commentary on ‘Tholkappiyam’, a classical work on grammar of Tamil language. He is not the leader of any all-India political party; still he has commanded respect and regard of Presidents from Sanjeeva Reddy to Abdul Kalam and Tmt. Pratibha Patil, Prime Ministers from Indira Gandhi to Dr. Manmohan Singh, tall leaders from Jayaprakash Narain to EMS Namboodripad, Jyoti Basu and VP Singh, past and present Chief Ministers of various states, regional leaders like Farooq Abdullah, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh et al., besides great leaders like Kamarajar and Rajaji. He had no caste or community background or filmy glamour, but he succeeded in sidelining casteist and communal parties and politicians and in withstanding and vanquishing glamour politicians. All these and much more maketh Kalaignar, a unique leader gifted with impeccable versatility.
Kalaignar is a multi-dimensional personality. Very few political leaders in the world have shown such sustained literary interest. As a prolific writer, powerful screenplay and dialogue writer, popular dramatist, story writer, novelist, journalist, orator, modern poet, he has been exhibiting his illuminating views on social, economic, cultural and political scenario of Tamil Nadu and India.
Ideas of social reform and socialistic thought find predominant place in all his writings. He has touched upon each and every aspect of life of Tamils across countries and continents. He has never compromised his social reform ideals for the sake of electoral politics. He has been the source of a cascade of ideas, papers and books of a highly diversed, original and inspiring nature.
Thanthai Periyar and Arignar Anna were the mentors of Kalaignar. Periyar, the social missionary, was not enamoured with literature and art, least of all mediums like drama and films. Realizing the immense potential of drama and films for emanating ideals of social reform and rationalism, Anna and Kalaignar fully utilized them to reach the masses. Till their advent, Tamil cinema was rooted in mythology and songs in films became popular. Anna and Kalaignar revolutionized Tamil film world through their stories, screenplays and powerful dialogues, highly critical of social ills afflicting the society then, evils of casteism, superstitions and the exploitation of the poor by the rich and powerful vested interests. Anna’s appeal in all his writings and speeches was to the head-intellect of people and tried to convince them on progressive ideals.
But Kalaignar’s appeal in all his works was directed at the heart – the spirit and emotion of people inspiring them to revolt against orthodoxy, superstition, social evils and exploitation of all kinds. People, particularly the youth, who till then were memorizing and humming film songs started memorizing and delivering dialogues penned by Kalaignar for films like Parasakthi, Manohara etc., Kalaignar’s oratory, voice and modulation attracted thousands of youth all over the state that they imitated his style for delivering speeches on stages. Such was Kalaignar’s mass appeal.
Kalaignar is fired with great lofty Tamil aspirations and sentiments and experimented with unexplored areas of language and literature and scaled great heights. His contributions for the protection, enrichment and development of Tamil language, art and culture are immense. His political career itself started with anti-Hindi agitation in 1938; since then he has always been in the forefront in fighting battles for the cause of Tamil. The claims and the cause, the place and prestige of Tamil are for him above any compromise. In the anti-Hindi agitation of 1965, he personified the rage of the Tamils over the imposition of Hindi, that the then rulers considered that while the DMK party launched the opposition to Hindi, the fierce agitation of the students and youth as such derived its impetus and inspirations from Kalaignar, arrested and lodged him in solitary confinement, in Palayankottai prison for six months. That no other leader or lower level functionary was detained like this for months together uphold him as the only irrepressible agitator and spirited organizer of the movement and its struggles.
Kalaignar has made enormous constructive contributions for restoring its past glory of Tamil - singing of ‘Tamil-thai Vaazhthu’ in all public functions replacing age-old custom of invoking gods, declaration of the first day of ‘Thai’ month as Tamil New Year Day, erecting statues and memorials for Tamil scholars, installing 133-ft statue of Tiruvalluvar at Kanyakumari, securing classical language status for Tamil and thus realizing the 150-year old aspiration of Tamils, organizing first World Classical Tamil conference at Coimbatore next month on a grand scale - are some of his remarkable contributions.
Kalaignar has proved his mettle as a great builder and leader of mass movement. He has the unique privilege of being one of the founder leaders of the DMK and guiding its destiny in Tamil Nadu for six-and-a-half decades. The DMK is the only regional party that was swept to power in Tamil Nadu in 1967, one among the eight states where such regional groupings and alliances assumed power. Those outfits had withered in due course. Also the DMK is the only regional party in India which recaptured power after 13 years in opposition while in similar circumstances of wilderness regional parties in other states had vanished. The credit for keeping the movement alive, afloat and vibrantly growing from strength to strength rests purely on the organizational skill, political acumen and strategy and much more the untiring zeal and labour of Kalaignar. He has been waging many political struggles and fighting great battles all along his life and ultimately shown many Waterloos to racial adversaries of the Dravidian movement.
As a seasoned statesman, Kalaignar has been the guiding spirit in providing valuable contributions in national politics, when the country has been witnessing coalition governance since 1989. As a strong proponent of vibrant federalism, he has rendered his constant support to the formation of governments at the Centre. During the inauguration of the New Assembly Secretariat complex, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan complimented Kalaignar and said:
“The government of the United Progressive Alliance has greatly benefited from the wisdom and leadership of Kalaignar Karunanidhiji. I have turned to him often for advice. Karunanidhiji has been in our public life for over half a century. We are truly fortunate that we can draw on his experience and wisdom in managing the affairs of our nation. Under Karunanidhiji’s leadership, Tamil Nadu has marched forward as a model of development in our country. It has attained new heights in rural development and agrarian transformation. Tamil Nadu is the hub of India’s dynamic automobile industry. It has some of the most modern textile mills and a vibrant services economy.”
UPA Chairperson Tmt. Sonia Gandhi acknowledged Kalaignar’s role saying, “I want to say that ever since we formed the coalition government in 2004, Karunanidhiji has been a pillar of strength to the Prime Minister, to me and to the coalition. Everytime a problem happened, the first person the Prime Minister contacts or telephones is Karunanidhiji.”
Thus, he is one of the main architects of the successful coalition governments and the new era of political federalism in India.
Kalaignar symbolizes unique Tamil culture and socio-political radicalism by promoting social harmony and economic progress which are transparently seen in Tamil Nadu’s development scenario. Kalaignar’s progressive march is on. He is now 87, but his untiring search for knowledge, the energetic spirit and vibrant productive sentiments make him ever young to serve the people of Tamil Nadu and India at large. He has emerged as the ultimate champion of the Dravidian Movement, crusader for social justice and an intellectual statesman of India.
Long live Kalaignar!
(30-05-10)
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