Veteran politician late Muthuvel Karunanidhi served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for a record five times between 1969 and 2011, besides being the opposition leader for a period of five years from 1977-1983.
He has also been the second longest-serving opposition leader of Tamil Nadu and a long-standing leader of Dravidian movement and 10-time President of DMK.
Midnight Arrest
After AIADMK won the Assembly elections in 2001 and J. Jayalalithaa assumed charge as the Chief Minister, Karunanidhi was arrested after the police raided his Gopalapuram residence on June 3, 2001.
He was arrested at 01:45 a.m., physically roughed up and manhandled and produced before a magistrate who remanded him to judicial custody for a week. This was for the first time in the history of independent India that a serving leader of opposition and former Chief Minister of a state was put behind bars.
Then Union ministers — Murasoli Maran and T.R. Baalu — who were part of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government — had rushed to the house of their leader. However, both the leaders were also arrested and in the ensuing scuffle with the police, Maran suffered injuries. Karunanidhi’s arrest and remand sent shockwaves among the DMK cadres and mid-rung party leaders.
His arrest came in the backdrop of a case related to flyover scam worth Rs 12 crore in Greater Chennai Corporation where his son and DMK leader M.K. Stalin was the Mayor.
Jayalalithaa, as the leader of opposition, was also physically assaulted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 1996. And on December 7 the same year, she was arrested and jailed for a month in a case related to purchase of colour television sets.
On October 30, 1977, when Indira Gandhi visited Madras, Karunanidhi along with 28 other legislators showed her black flags.
In May 1980, MGR-led AIADMK had trounced the DMK. However, Karunanidhi was again elected as the leader of opposition. In 1981, both Karunanidhi and Anbazhagan resigned as legislators in protest against MGR’s handling of the Sri Lankan Tamil issue.
Fighting for Pillai
Karunanidhi also fought seeking justice for the verification officer of Murugan temple in Tiruchandur, C. Subramania Pillai. He walked from Madurai to Tiruchendur from February 15-22 in 1982 as a mark of protest to put pressure on the MGR government.
He asked the MGR government to take immediate action against the Tiruchandur temple trustees, revenue and health department officials, and the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department, who he believed were responsible for the death of Pillai.
Opposition Leader
During the tenures of both the Chief Ministers — M. G. Ramachandran (MGR) and Jayalalithaa — Karunanidhi had assertively raised the people’s issues in the Assembly to corner the government.
Given his vast experience as an administrator and as a grassroots politician, Karunanidhi was a formidable opposition leader who could take on any government.
As Chief Minister as well as the opposition leader, he always ensured that the Tamil Nadu legislative Assembly remained lively and that people’s issues were addressed in a proper way. When in opposition, he never let the government dodge his questions.
Tailpiece
“The five decades of active social life of Karunanidhi was marked with success, defeats, triumphs, losses, sweet victories, bitter losses, and political confrontation.
“Amid all these, he remained level-headed and worked hard to bring DMK to the centre of power in Tamil Nadu,” C. Rajeev, Director, Centre for Policy and Development Studies, told IANS.
He said that as a leader of opposition, Karunanidhi was always full of energy, vitality and had a knack of unearthing things that were hidden from the public.
“He was a very successful opposition leader who cornered the government of the day with facts and figures. His fights with MGR and Jayalalithaa were legendary, but although he had a hate-love relationship with MGR, with Jayalalithaa, there was no bonhomie,” Rajeev said.
20230611-100403
