On June 18, there were two statements from two different
quarters – BJP senior leader L.K.Advani told reporters in New Delhi, “In all
the Presidential elections, the most unforgettable was the one in 1969. This is
at number two.” The other statement was made by Thiru V.Narayanaswamy, Union
Minister of State in charge of Prime Minister’s Office, saying that DMK
President Kalaignar was the first to propose the name of Thiru Pranab Mukherjee
as the UPA candidate for the Presidential election in July 2012.
As veteran politician Advani said, the 1969 Presidential
election was most sensational and historic, in which Kalaignar and the DMk
played a crucial role.
The presidential poll of 1969 was held three years after
Indira Gandhi took over as Prime Minister. During this period, Indira Gandhi
had been hamstrung by her own party. She had been elevated to her office by a
group of regional Congress leaders — Kamarajar, Nijalingappa, S K Patil, Atulya
Ghosh, Sanjiva Reddy — collectively known as the 'Syndicate' . And they
insisted on calling the shots. Worse, the party's organization had considerably
atrophied .
The Congress's decline was evident in its poor performance
in the general elections of 1967. Indira Gandhi was now sure that the party
needed a major overhaul.
After these elections, Indira Gandhi was compelled by the
Syndicate to bring in her old opponent, Morarji Desai, as deputy PM and Finance
Minister . Yet she began to assert her independence, especially on economic
policy, where she started charting a leftward course. The party bosses were
irked. The death of President Zakir Hussain on May 3, 1969, was seen by the
Syndicate as an opportunity to cut her to size.
The opening shot was fired by Kamarajar, when he quietly suggested
to Indira Gandhi that she be nominated as the Congress's candidate for the
presidential polls.
The Prime Minister had no desire to be kicked upstairs . But
it was evident that the upcoming elections would be a crucial test of her
standing in the party.
The Congress Parliamentary Board met on July 11, 1969, to
discuss the candidate. The Syndicate had already decided on Sanjiva Reddy,
whose affinity to them was well known. Indira Gandhi was naturally loath to do
so. At the meeting, she suggested nominating the veteran Dalit leader Jagjivan
Ram. When this was shot down, she asked that they postpone the decision to
allow more time for arriving at a consensus. Nijalingappa, however, forced a
vote in the six-member parliamentary board. Indira Gandhi was outvoted four to
two.
Even as a brooding Indira Gandhi left for Bangalore, a fresh
opening presented itself. The Vice-President V V Giri announced he would
contest the polls as an independent candidate. Indira Gandhi knew that before
she could support Giri against her own party's nominee, she would have to
regain the initiative within the party. This she did first by forcing Morarji
Desai out of the Cabinet and then by nationalizing banks. She also went ahead
and filed the nomination for Sanjiva Reddy, though she refrained from issuing a
whip to Congress MPs.
The Syndicate realized that Indira Gandhi might yet come out
in support of Giri. Nijalingappa took a fatal misstep by approaching the main
opposition parties, Swatantra and Jana Sangh, to cast their second preference
vote for Reddy (the opposition's candidate was C D Deshmukh ). Indira Gandhi
seized the opportunity to denounce Nijalingappa's move. Yet, she did not
formally reveal her preference until the night before the elections, when she
called on her party to 'vote according to conscience'.
V.V.Giri won the poll by a narrow margin of 14,650 votes. As
neither candidate could secure the qualifying vote in the first count, the
decision rested on the second preference votes.
In fact the term 'conscience vote' in Indian political
parlance was the gift of that exciting and dramatic election as Indira Gandhi,
caught in an intense factional fight with a group of party leaders, sought to
ensure greater support for Giri.
The voting figures showed that a majority of Congress
members had actually voted for Reddy. Giri had edged through with a minority of
Congress votes and support from a curious combination of opposition groups -
the DMK and Left parties.
The 1969 election witnessed the Election Commission
introducing an innovation to ensure strict secrecy of voting by covering the
serial numbers on the back of ballot papers with coloured slips.
During that election, the ballot papers were shuffled three
or four times during the polling so that the agents of the candidates find it
difficult to note down the serial numbers to identify votes cast by members
during counting.
It was also for the first time that some MLAs were allowed
to cast their votes at Parliament House in New Delhi instead of their state
capitals.
Nevertheless, the election of 1969 proved to be a tipping
point. Increasing numbers of Congress members realized that a showdown in the
party was imminent and that the future lay with Indira Gandhi. Later that year,
the Congress split and a majority of MPs stood by the PM.
Although she now led a minority government, Indira Gandhi
stitched up support from the CPI, the DMK and other opposition groups. Having
taken control of her party and government, she called for an early general
election that she won with an unassailable majority. Indira Gandhi entered into
an alliance with the DMK and secured valuable 10 MPs from Tamil Nadu only with
the help of the DMK.
The presidential election of 1969, then, was not just
gripping and close run but also a watershed in Indian politics. There may be
intriguing parallels between that historic election and the current one. But
the real question is whether the election of 2012 will mark as sharp a break in
contemporary politics.
The first President Rajendra Prasad was elected in 1952 and
got over 5 lakh votes out of the total of 6.05 lakh votes polled.
The second election for him was a cake walk as in 1957 he
polled over 4.59 lakh votes out of the total 4.64 lakh votes.
It was a similar story when Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan became
President in 1962.
However, 1967 saw a fight when Zakir Hussain got just one
lakh votes more than his nearest rival Kota Subba Rao in an election where 15
other candidates were also there.
It was the political acumen of Kalaignar in extending the
DMK’s unstinted support with its 25 MPs, to the progressive measures introduced
then by Indira Gandhi, like nationalization of 14 banks and abolition of privy
purses, that she could have a roller coaster over the reactionary forces
represented by the syndicate. Kalaignar extended solid support to Indira
Gandhi’s national political moves culminating in her calling for a snap poll to
the Lok Sabha in 1971, although the faction of the Congress led by her had no
much following in Tamil Nadu, which stayed with Kamarajar.
But in the Presidential election during the post-Emergency period
during Janata Party government, the same N.Sanjeeva Reddy, who faced the
disgrace of defeat in 1969 as official candidate of the Congress Party, was
elected as the 6th President of India in 1977. He was followed by
Giani Zail Singh in 1982, R.Venkataraman in 1987 and Shankar Dayal Sharma in
1992.
During the United Front government during 1996-98 in which
DMK was a coalition party, K.R.Narayanan, proposed by Kalaignar was elected as
President. The relation between Kalaignar and K.R.Narayanan was so cordial,
that in spite of his indifferent health, Narayanan obliged Kalaignar and came
to Chennai to inaugurate ‘Kalaignar Karuvoolam’ in the Party headquarters
Arivalayam. It was because of Narayanan’s association with Kalaignar that
Jayalalitha did not pay homage in the Assembly or even issue condolence message
when the distinguished former President expired in 2005. So also in the
Presidential election in 2002 during the NDA rule, Kalaignar extended DMK’s
support to APJ Abdul Kalam when his name suddenly emerged in the confabulation
among coalition parties of the ruling alliance.
But Kalaignar’s role was pivotal and decisive during the
Presidential in 2007 under UPA rule.
Reporting on the efforts made by Kalaignar in New Delhi then
to bring about a consensus on Presidential candidate of the UPA and Left
parties, ‘The Hindu’, under the headline ‘Karunanidhi played a key role’ said:
“Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi played a key role in the choice of
Rajasthan Governor Pratibha Patil as the United Progressive Alliance’s
Presidential candidate. He had extensive consultations with Congress President
Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Left leaders” and went on
into the details.”
‘The Deccan Chronicle’ reported under the headline ‘MK
played key mediatory role: “Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi emerged as
the top mediator between the ruling Congress and the Left Front. ... for a
consensus on the Presidential candidate. The Tamil Nadu House here remained the
nerve-centre of political activity” and gave the details.”
Similar accolades were published in Tamil dailies ‘Dinamani’
and ‘Tamil Osai’ and many upcountry newspapers in English and vernacular
languages.
Thus, with the press as a whole, the public of various
shades of opinion and politicians of all hues acknowledging the significant
role played by Kalaignar in forging a consensus between the UPA and the
supporting Left parties and fielding a woman as the Presidential candidate, it became
a national endorsement of his statesmanship and his stature as the most
experienced and respected political leader. Announcing the candidature of Tmt.
Pratibha Patil, Congress President Tmt. Sonia Gandhi said it would be a matter
of great privilege for the country to have a woman President in the 60th year
of Independence. “It is a matter of pride and a historic moment in the 60th
year of Republic” she said. Indeed every Indian can feel proud about the
democratic system and values we have as in its over 400 years of existence the
USA, claiming to be the international champion of and crusader for democracy,
could not have a woman as President or at least as Vice President. The credit
for this phenomenal accomplishment solely belonged to Kalaignar.
For over two weeks the Congress leadership was insistent on
certain names for Presidential candidature and the leaders of the Left parties,
whose over 1,10,000 votes was a compelling necessity for the victory of UPA
candidate in the election, conveyed their reservation and unwillingness to
accept the names. The Left leaders in turn suggested the names of some leaders
but the Congress leadership was reluctant to accept them as it felt that they
could not be spared because their services in the government was indispensable.
It could not be said there was a crisis; there was an impasse, a stalemate
which needed to be broken with extraordinary diplomacy without offending either
side or rock the boat of the government at the Centre. There was also the need
for choosing a ‘strong candidate’ (as the Left
put it) who could take the rival fielded by the NDA and who enjoyed the
confidence of all parties in the UPA and the Left parties, which were extending
crucial support to the government from outside. It was then that everybody felt
that the deadlock could be unlocked only by Kalaignar.
Already Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Tmt. Sonia
Gandhi had asked Kalaignar to be present in the Capital on June 13, 14 and 15
to take a decision on Presidential candidate. With the persisting stalemate,
CPM General Secretary Thiru Prakash Karat announced that the Left leaders were
awaiting the arrival of Kalaignar to resolve the issue. All these showed the
enormous confidence the leaders of all parties had reposed in him. They were
not failed in their expectation and confidence. In less than 24 hours after his
arrival in New Delhi on the night of February13 Kalaignar, after hectic parleys
with both sides not only brought about a consensus but also was instrumental in
taking the momentous decision to send a woman to Raisina Hill as President,
thereby unnerving the Opposition NDA and tremendously enthusing women and
progressive and democratic minded people all over the country.
That one of the aspirants for the top post Dr. Karan Singh
called on Kalaignar at Tamil Nadu House with the hope of being sponsored spoke
for itself on importance of the Chief Minister in choosing the Presidential
candidate.
This is not the first occasion when Kalaignar played a
pivotal role at the national level in a critical situation. On many occasions
in the past his intervention, guidance and support were sought for by leaders
of national parties in order to take crucial decisions or to find out
resolution for serious problems.
Kalaignar’s role in national politics started as much back
as 1969, when heading for a split in the Congress Party, the then Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi called upon Congress legislators and Parliamentarians to
exercise ‘conscience vote’ in favour of V.V.Giri (who contested as Independent)
in the Presidential election against the official candidate Sanjeeva Reddy.
Indira Gandhi sought the help of Kalaignar in mobilizing support for V.V.Giri
and he readily obliged. Giri won the election with the support of the DMK, Left
parties and some other regional parties. Later on Indira Gandhi openly
acknowledged that Kalaignar was the ‘source of strength” for her at that
critical period.
Kalaignar’s role was significant and noteworthy in the
election of Thiru V.P. Singh as Prime Minister of the National Front government
in 1989, in the choice of Thiru Deve Gowda and later Thiru I.K.Gujral as Prime
Ministers of the United Front government in 1996, and in the selection of Thiru
K.R.Narayanan as Presidential candidate in 1997.
Hailing the election of the first woman President, Kalaignar
penned a poem on 18.6.2007 which translated in English read as:
“In
a population which swells over a hundred crore;
The
surging men are an equal half.
Like
tiny frogs which shrink before hissing snakes;
Women
who learn to appease anger and obey are the other half.
Rotting
like a frond in the reeking puddle of superstition;
Women
walk the Vedic path of shyness, fear, shame and ignorance.
They
did not stop with saying why do women who
fan the fires of the
kitchen need education;
They
even questioned her need to live after her lord and master died.
They
cleansed and charred her body in the flames of tradition;
Her
lifeless statue was decorated with sindoor and flowers,
And
she made Devi.
Cast
away ignorance,
Unveil
the guile of male supremacy,
Said
Periyar E.V.Ramaswamy
And
our leader Anna.
Making
sure their words are heard beyond the Nation – by the World.
The
Capital City has glorified Bharathi’s Modern Women.
We
have a woman as the President of India
From
now Women’s liberation will be the
cherished goal of freedom.
Now also during this 13th Presidential elections,
UPA Chairperson Tmt. Sonia Gandhi first sent Defence Minister and senior
Congress leader A.K.Antony, with her proposals for candidature to Kalaignar for
his approval. Despite persistent queries by newspersons to Kalaignar in Chennai
and DMK Parliamentary Party leader Thiru T.R.Baalu in New Delhi, they did not
disclose anything about the proposals sent by the UPA Chairperson through her
emissary. That is the political decency of Kalaignar. Now the Minister in
charge of the PMO has disclosed that it was Kalaignar who proposed the name of
Pranab Mukherjee as UPA candidate for Presidential election. But still
Kalaignar has not claimed any credit for himself.
Although Kalaignar’s role in the national politics in
general and in Presidential elections in particular is acclaimed by one and
all, Kalaignar humbly used to say that he knew his height. Saying so, he scaled
peaks of glory and acknowledged as one of the tallest leaders of the country.
There is a saying in Tamil ‘òèia¥ gh®¤J¥ óid NL ngh£L¡ bfh©ljh«’
which means, “On seeing a tiger, a cat branded fire scars on it.” Envying
Kalaignar’s stature, but unaware of her ‘height’, Jayalalitha, on her own,
announced that P.A.Sangma was her candidate for Presidency and appealed to all
political parties in the country to extend support to him. She also contacted
over phone leaders of many political parties and requested them to support her
candidate. But none responded. Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh
refuted Jayalalitha’s statement that the Congress ‘botched’ Presidential
election and turned the table against her saying she should have known her
party’s ‘numbers’ before announcing her candidate for the Presidential polls.
