Karunanidhi, the man who brought down the Congress in Tamil Nadu

In a recent political campaign rally, where Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and Karunanidhi, shared the stage, the Dravidian stalwart, claimed that the DMK and Congress alliance is a fine example for a relationship that rises above all differences. Not a very clear definition, unless one digs back into history of Tamil politics back to the days of Kamaraj and later how Karunanidhi kept Congress from coming back to power in the Dravidian state.

Also read: The Vitamin-M election in Tamil Nadu

No other leader holds a special place in the hearts of the people of Tamil Nadu as K. Kamaraj does, the six feet tall man who is still considered to be the main reason for the educational reforms in the state.

Kamaraj, the King maker, solemnly vowed his life to improve the living conditions of the down trodden. He knew that the only way to bring a change into the society is by education. He removed the blasphemous family vocation based,"Hereditary Education Policy", thereby by allowing anyone to become any kind of profession they dream to be. Kamaraj introduced "free mid-day meal schemes" for school children, a pre-cursor to all free meal schemes as a way to encourage students and improve school attendance. He solely was responsible for the increase in education rate from 7 per cent to 37 per cent in the state, thereby earning the name, "Kalvi Thanthai", meaning father of education.

But how could a man with such magnificent achievements lose the democratic battle to a youngster? Enter Karunanidhi..

The Dravidian nationalism factor, instigated by Periyar reached its peak in the later part of the 60's. Kamaraj, a politician with clear perception of political vision knew that Tamil Nadu people should learn Hindi or else they'll be cut from the mainland India.

But during the 67 election, DMK took its main agenda as opposing Hindi, calling it as forced imposition. Karunanidhi played a major role in the anti-Hindi agitations. The situation went out of control when two students, who were imprisoned for agitation lost their lives in prison.

Yet, this was not enough to bring down Kamaraj. That is when DMK approached, C Rajaji, a former leader of Tamil Nadu Congress Party who then led his own "Swatantara Party". Tamil political historian Raveendran Duraisamy mentions that, Anna Durai, the then DMK leader was hesitant to oppose Kamaraj. But the meetings were facilitated by other leaders led by Karunanidhi.

Using 'Opposition Consolidation', DMK along with Rajaji gathered a vote share of 46.1 per cent which was enough to bring down Congress along with Kamaraj.

Kamaraj, the architect of Congress party in Tamil Nadu lost the election to a student leader, P Seenivasan of DMK at Virudhunagar in 1967. From that day, Congress has only seen a downward slide in the state.

"All is fair in love, war and politics". Believing in this principle, DMK under the leadership of Karunanidhi allied with Congress for many election battles later on. But the DMK patriarch was very clear in not sharing the power with the national party, proving that he was a definite political Chanakya and Congress since then lost its interest in Tamil Nadu.

PS - When DMK celebrated Kamaraj's defeat with posters carrying the caption, "An illiterate Kamaraj got defeated by a literate, Seenivasan", the Godfather of Dravidian movement who equally opposed Kamaraj ordered his men to counter the above caption with posters carrying the message, "Seenivasan who got educated from a school built by Kamaraj, defeats the uneducated Kamaraj".