Alliances forged for the first time in Tamil Nadu in 1967

MADURAI: They were two bitter critics - C Rajagopalachari and C N Annadurai. The former criticized Annadurai for his separate statehood demand for Tamil Nadu while Anna riled Rajaji as an Aryan.
But when the two chose to bury their hatchets in 1967, the result was the birth of the first full-fledged political alliance in Tamil Nadu. Anyone could forget the consequence of that election, but the Congress.The party suffered a humiliating fall from which the national party still struggles to rise.
From 31 Lok Sabha seats in the previous elections, Congress was reduced to just 3 MPs in 1967. In Madurai, it was the CPM veteran P Ramamurthi scripting his success story by trouncing Congress's S C Thevar. The alliance was a trendsetter for decades to come as it was the first time that parties with opposite views came together to face polls. Communist Party of India (Marxist) an avowed critic of Swatantra Party was also in the front. "CPM had no alliance with Swatantra Party. CPM joined hands only with DMK which had struck a deal with Swatantra," said N Nanmaran, a CPM veteran who was a 19-year-old student issuing booth slips then.
The 1967 election was unique in many ways than one. It was the first election faced by CPM after the split from CPI three years back. For DMK, that election helped them enter the corridors of Parliament for the first time.
It was not very difficult for the parties to break ice and ally with each other. "CPM wanted to oust Congress and found DMK as a bankable ally to remove the party from Tamil Nadu," he said. But leaders of Swatantra Party and CPM did not share stage anywhere during campaigns though DMK lent its hands to both parties.
It was a very spirited campaign as the only agenda was to oust Congress. "Ilayaraja had played the harmonium in his brother Pavalar Varadharaju's concert during campaigns," Nanmaran recalled.
Coming shortly after the anti-Hindi protests that rocked the state, even Congress stalwart K Kamaraj could not contain the fall of the party. Ramamurthi had an edge over S C Thevar right from the beginning of campaign. Many leaders, including Annadurai visited Madurai to campaign attracting a large number of youth.
"Rice shortage was another major issue during the elections. People were forced to buy rice at whatever cost sold by traders," recalled N Ramakrishnan, writer and brother of Left icon N Sankaraiah.
N Pandurangan (77), a Congress functionary said that monsoon failure was the reason for rice shortage. "Kamaraj tried his best to manage the drought situation but official mismanagement damaged the prospects of Congress. DMK's slogan "rubaikku oru padi arisi" (one measure of rice for Re 1) helped it win the elections," he said.
1967 was also the year when parties started giving a thought to caste while deciding candidates. The demography of Madurai changed as after Vaigai dam was built, many agrarian thevars from Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga migrated to Madurai. One of the reasons for Congress fielding S C Thevar was swelling of the thevar population.