Jayalalithaa-Karunanidhi rivalry: How a poet and an actress ruled the state

Best remembered as her political rival, DMK leader M Karunanidhi — himself hospitalised — condoled the death of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who passed away at Chennai’s Apollo Hospitals on Monday night.

“I offer deep condolences on the passing away of Jayalalithaa. Wishes of lakhs of her followers will make her immortal,” Karunanidhi said.

The DMK patriarch’s tribute sounds gregarious, but for those in the know when it comes to Tamil Nadu politics, the two were fierce adversaries; opposing titans in Dravidian politics, post the MGR era. To revisit their rivalry, one would first have to visit their entry into politics, which takes root in the Dravidian movement, something that still holds good with any political party in Tamil Nadu. (Case in point, the DMK, AIADMK, MDMK, DMDK)

It all started with the emergence of a series of non-Brahmin conferences in the then Madras Presidency in the 1900s, which gave rise to the Justice Party, established in 1916 by Dr TM Nair, P Theagaraya Chettiar and Dr C Natesa Mudaliar — who also to their credit have roads named after them in Chennai. The seeds sown by the Justice Party along with the Self Respect Movement started by EV Periyar took formidable shape in the late 19th century — in 1938, The Indian Express reports , the Justice Party and the Self Respect Movement came together to form the Dravida Kazhagam, which aimed to serve as an anti-Brahmin, anti-Congress and an anti-North Indian outfit. This was mainly to counter the Rajagopalachari-led Congress’ move to impose Hindi in the state; DK then launched the anti-Hindi agitations of 1937-40. (Hindi is still a thorn in Tamil Nadu’s flesh)

Annadurai, who became the party’s first general secretary, left the DK after he differed with Periyar on India’s independence and formed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1949. The DMK further split in 1972 when actor-turned-politician MG Ramachandran (MGR) was expelled from the party, writes Frontline , following differences between him and M Karunanidhi, primarily a screenwriter and an orator, who served as party president. MGR went on to launch the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK), which later took on the prefix of ‘All India’ during the Emergency. The AIADMK did split into two factions following MGR’s death, one led by the wife Janaki Ramachandran and the other by Jayalalithaa and in 1989 the two factions merged.

History aside, Karunanidhi is known to have built his political career on his oratorical flourishes — his fiery speeches sometimes leave nothing to the imagination or a whole lot, they provoke with the pulse of a fiery rhetoric. This piece in  Fountain Ink describes the public craze surrounding Karunanidhi’s poetry.

“There were times when scores of people would pour out of their homes to hear Karunanidhi’s poetry, see MGR and Jayalalithaa.”

In fact, he earned his sobriquet Kalaignar because he spoke “Tamil with a poetic fervour and his skills in oratory and writing  were widely appreciated”, writes Vaasanthi in Cut-outs, Caste and Cines Stars. It is also known that Karunanidhi, born into a poor Isai Vellalar family (members who nurtured arts and music), took pride in being called Kalaignar. The Caravan , in a splendid profile of him and his family, writes that his father “introduced him to the epics, oral stories and music”. But it was really his work for the Sivaji Ganesan-starrer Parasakthi that catapulted him into fame. Adapted from the eponymous play, Karunanidhi was signed to write the script .

Randor Guy writes for The Hindu that, “the powerful writing of Karunanidhi, the atheistic stance, the performance of the unknown newcomer all this and more took the world by storm”. Parasakthi not only made Sivaji famous but also Karunanidhi; the latter used films as a medium to spread the party’s ideology, which still pays the dividends for DMK. His speeches drew crowds and how!

Sample this poem by Karunanidhi where he describes his body as a sacrifice to Tamil people , “if you dash me against the rocks, I will break into the flakes of a coconut; you can pick these up and eat them, and rejoice”. Further, out of his great devotion to Tirukkural, Karunanidhi even built a monument for Tiruvalluvar, Valluvar Kottom, in Chennai.

Contrast this with the late Jayalalithaa, who started out as an actress — a glamorous entry that shot her to fame — only to make herself less attractive and grow into a matriarchal role, of that as ‘Amma’. Vaasanthi reinforces this view in her biography of Jayalalithaa , writing that the latter consciously set out to “de-glamourise her appearance, perhaps in an attempt to wipe out the stigma attached to her as an actress”. It was exactly this “stigma” that drew in crowds for the AIADMK: A party conference at Cuddalore was organised, and it was no surprise that the whole town gathered to hear the star speaker deliver her maiden political speech. “They mainly came to see a pretty face, and were instead treated to an impressive, fiery oration,” Vaasanthi writes.

Perhaps enjoying the rush, Jayalalithaa joined the AIADMK in June 1982; the DMK described the event as “Cuddalore cabaret” in its mouthpiece.

However, after she became AIADMK’s party secretary she stuck to a simple white sari sans jewellery, and instead stepping up her oratorical game. Her emotionally-charged speeches always contained the trademark questions — “neengal seiveerhala (Will you fulfill it)?” asking the crowd whether they would vote for AIADMK and defeat the opposition. The other thing that usually worked in favour of Jayalalithaa is the elevation to a near-goddess status and her projection of an emotional attachment to the late MGR — as someone who carried forward his legacy.

Jayalalitha’s photograph has also frequently been superimposed onto various images of the goddess in AIADMK propaganda material, especially that of her being depicted as the Virgin Mary in posters commissioned for her 47th birthday.

The incident that stemmed their enmity finds its base in the shameful attempt to disrobe Jayalalithaa in 1989 in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly where Jayalalithaa accused the DMK of harassing her and tapping her phones. Karunanidhi retorted with a reportedly unfavourable remark that made Jayalalithaa furious and caused a ruckus in the Assembly. As the speaker adjourned the House and Jayalalithaa was making her exit, Duraimurugan clutched her sari and tried to pull it. She then vowed to never step foot inside the Assembly until she won the next election and until conditions were made favourable for women. In 1991, AIADMK triumphed DMK and took 224 seats, while the latter was reduced to a single digit, seven.