Tamil Nadu’s political sphere resounded with a particularly striking introductory address that thrilled the crowds no end for a good eight decades. 'En uyiriun melaana anpu udanpirappukale,' emerged the grainy baritone voice, greeting huge gatherings with the words that meant “Hey, my siblings who I love more than my own life.” Steeped in authentic Tamil diction, that opening bit by Muthuvel Karunandhi would be of delight to a linguist even if one were his political adversary.
Into the 2010s and even as a nonagenarian, wheelchair-bound and not in the best of health, Karunandhi stood irreplaceable in clout and charisma in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam he headed for half a century.
It’s unimaginable for the people of Tamil Nadu to think of an election to the state legislature without him in the fray. After all, he had debuted as an MLA way back in 1957, just 17 years after the southern state was born.
No wonder, even lately, when a largely immobile MK waded through the crowds of rally grounds to be scaled on to the platform, people took his words as if like commandments emerging from a benign soul. Even in the evening of his life, Karunanidhi’s talks bore the glow of the crimson-red sun.
MK’s utterances were not just backed by intelligent thoughts, but shaped by sentences that were razor-sharp. After all, it was from the pen of the same man that Tamil cinema got its nascent-time heroes such as M.G. Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan who delivered his passionate dialogues as awe-inspiring silver-screen characters.
Least surprising, thus, that MK could script political slogans of widespread popularity. Sample a few:
‘Nehruvin makale varika, nilayaana aachi tharika’ (To form a strong government, welcome to [Jawaharlal] Nehru’s daughter). This was coined ahead of a 1979-80 tie-up between Karunanidhi’s DMK and Indira Gandhi’s Congress.
‘Thaalikku thankam illai, thaalikkan thakkali illai’ (No gold to make the mangalsutra, no tomato to put into the curry). This was to expose the ‘failed’ rule of the post-Emergency Janata Party government under Morarji Desai during 1977-80).
The pen had been a constant companion of MK, whose slogans were noticed even during the start of his political career at the age of 14. The rhyme and lyricism in those lines did spill over to his public speeches, which had a magnetic effect on the milling crowds that listened to their leader. He won a 13 times to become a member of the state assembly. In 1957, when he was declared elected from Kulithalai constituency near Tiruchirappalli, his future political rival J. Jayalalithaa was a just a child into class 4. He went on to become chief minister for five times. Even as his party occasionally lost the polls, MK emerged consistently successful, making it to the lawmaker’s hall.
Here is the list of his assembly victories:
1957: Kulithalai
1962: Thanjavur
1967: Saidapet
1971: Saidapet
1977: Anna Nagar
1980: Anna Nagar
1989: Harbour
1991: Harbour
1996: Chepauk
2001: Chepauk
2006: Chepauk
2011: Tiruvarur
2016: Tiruvarur
In 1984, MK chose not to contest the state assembly elections.
Karunanidhi relinquished his MLA status twice: 1983 (owing to the Sri Lankan civil war involving the Tamils of the island-nation), 1991 (when MK turned out to be the sole assembly-poll winner from his party).
Political Career: Thumbnail Take
1938: Began political work at age 14
1957: Debuted as a legislator at age 33
1961: DMK treasurer
1962: Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Tamil Nadu assembly
1967: PWD minister in the CN Annadurai Cabinet
1969: DMK president and state chief minister after Annadurai’s death
1971, ’89, ’96 and 2006: Heads the government to become a five-time CM
