C. N. Annadurai

Name	C. N. Annaduraiசி. என். அண்ணாதுரை
Office1	Chief Minister of Madras State(from August 1968 onwards, Tamil Nadu)
Term start1	February, 1967
Term end1	3 February 1969
Governor1	Sardar Ujjal Singh
Predecessor1	M. Bakthavatsalam
Successor1	V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (acting)
Primeminister1	Indira Gandhi
Office2	Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), India
Term start2	1962
Term end2	1967
Primeminister2	Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri,Indira Gandhi
President2	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Office3	Member of Madras Legislative Council
Term start3	1967
Term end3	1969
Governor3	Sardar Ujjal Singh
Premier3	C. N. Annadurai
Office4	Member of Madras State Legislative Assembly
Term start4	1957
Term end4	1962
Premier4	K. Kamaraj
Governor4	A. J. John, AnaparambilBhishnuram Medhi
Constituency4	Kanchipuram
Predecessor4	Deivasigamani
Successor4	S. V. Natesa Mudaliar
Birth date	September 15, 1909
Birth place	Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, British India
Death date	February 03, 1969
Death place	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Politician
Networth	Unknown
Spouse	Rani Annadurai
Children	None, but adopted his sister's grandchildren

Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai () (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly called Anna (, “elder brother"), or Arignar Anna (Anna the scholar) was a former Chief Minister of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold that post and was also the first non-Congress leader to form a majority government in independent India.

He was well known for his oratorical skills and was an acclaimed writer in the Tamil language. He scripted and acted in several plays. Some of his plays were later made into movies. He was the first politician from the Dravidian parties to use Tamil cinema extensively for political propaganda. Born in a middle class family, he first worked as a school teacher, then moved into the political scene of the Madras Presidency as a journalist. He edited several political journals and enrolled as a member of the Dravidar Kazhagam. As an ardent follower of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, he rose in stature as a prominent member of the party.

With differences looming with Periyar, on issues of separate independent state of Dravida Nadu and on inclusion in the Indian Union, he crossed swords with his political mentor. The antipathy between the two finally erupted when Periyar married Maniammai, who was much younger than he. Angered by this action of Periyar, Annadurai with his supporters parted from Dravidar Kazhagam and launched his own party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The DMK initially followed ideologies the same as the mother party, Dravidar Kazhagam. But with the evolution of national politics and the constitution of India after the Sino-Indian war in 1963, Annadurai dropped the claim for an independent Dravida Nadu.

Various protests against the then ruling Congress government took him to prison on several occasions; the last of which was during the Madras anti-Hindi agitation of 1965. The agitation itself helped Annadurai to gain popular support for his party. His party won a landslide victory in the 1967 state elections. His cabinet was the youngest at that time in India. He legalised Self-respect marriages, enforced a two language policy (in preference to the three language formula in other southern states), implemented subsidies for rice, and renamed Madras State to Tamil Nadu.

However, he died of cancer just two years into office. His funeral had the highest attendance of any to that date, earning it a Guinness record. Several institutions and organisations are named after him. A splinter party launched by M. G. Ramachandran in 1972 was named after him as ADMK (Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam).

Early life

Annadurai was born on 15 September 1909 in Kanchipuram (then called Conjeevaram), Tamil Nadu, to Natarajan and Bangaru Ammal in a middle class family of Sengunta Mudaliar caste. He was raised by his sister Rajamani Ammal. At the age of 21, he married Rani while he was still a student. The couple had no children of their own, so they later adopted and raised Rajamani's grandchildren. in Pachaiyappa High School. Later he quit the teaching job and began involving himself in journalism and politics.

Religion

By birth Annadurai was a Hindu. The Murugan of the Tiruttani hill temple was the family deity. Though he initially belonged to the openly atheist Dravidar Kazhagam he later nuanced his stance towards theism as "One race, One god" (Onre Kulam Oruvanae Thevan)

Annadurai would attack superstitions and religious exploitation but would never fight against the spiritual values of society. He once explained his stance towards god and religion as "I do not break coconuts for Pillaiyar, (a form of worship) neither do i break his idols".(Nan Thengayum udaipathillai; Pillaiyarum Udaipathillai)

Entry into politics

Annadurai's interest in politics made him join the Justice party in 1935. The Justice party originated with the Madras United League which was initially started as a work group that helped non-Brahmin students in Madras with accommodation and later grew into a political party under the efforts of leaders like Sir Pitti Theagaroya Chetty and Dr. T. M. Nair. The party was named South Indian Liberal Federation (S. I. L. F.) - popularly known as Justice party. By the time Annadurai joined the Justice party, Periyar E. V. Ramasami was the party president. Annadurai served as the sub-editor of the Justice magazine.

Differences with Periyar and birth of DMK

The Indian National Congress, which had been fighting for the independence of India from colonial British rule, was dominated by Brahmins. Periyar assumed that independent India would bring South Indians, especially Tamils, under the dominance of Brahmins and North Indians. For these reasons Periyar called for 15 August 1947, the day of Indian independence, to be a day of mourning. Annadurai opposed this move and the schism between his supporters and Periyar widened. Moreover Periyar's decision on giving up participating in democratic elections was also opposed by Annadurai, in reaction to which he walked out of a party meeting in 1948.). The new party was named Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. DMK's presence was initially restricted to urban centres and its surrounding areas. But by appealing to the urban lower, lower middle and working classes, students, Dalits and lower castes, Annadurai was able to accelerate its growth and spread. He fought for the social justice of the lower castes and thus rapidly gained popular support. }}

Sampath's opposition to using film stars made him cross swords with many other members of the party. Eventually, with looming differences with Annadurai and other leaders on Dravida Nadu, Sampath left the DMK and formed his own party, the Tamil Nationalist Party, in 1961.

However, the reorganisation of states in India on linguistic basis removed Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam speaking regions from the Madras Presidency leaving behind a predominantly Tamil Madras State. Giving in to realities, Annadurai and his DMK changed the call of independent Dravida Nadu for Dravidians to independent Tamil Nadu for Tamils. Annadurai felt that remaining in the Indian Union meant accepting linguistic domination and economic backwardness. Nevertheless, the Sino-Indian war brought about changes in the Indian constitution. The Sixteenth Amendment (most popularly known as the Anti-Secessionist Amendment) banned any party with sectarian principles from participating in elections. When this amendment was presented in the Parliament of India, Annadurai was one of its members. He vehemently debated against the amendment, but eventually could not stop it from being passed. Faced with the new constitutional changes, Annadurai and his DMK left the call for an independent Tamil homeland on the back burner. From then on Annadurai and his DMK aimed at achieving better cooperation between the southern states and claimed more autonomy for Tamil Nadu. On the party's position, Annadurai said

Anti-Hindi agitations

Hindi was first recommended to be an apt language for official purposes in India by a committee headed by Motilal Nehru in 1928. This move was opposed by people and politicians of Tamil Nadu, since they considered that it would make them second class citizens when compared to that of native Hindi speaking North Indians.

Protests of 1938

In 1938, the Congress government in Madras Presidency headed by C. Rajagopalachari (popularly known as Rajaji) proposed the use of Hindi language as a compulsory language in schools. This move was opposed by Tamil leaders. Annadurai, along with other Tamil enthusiasts including the poet Bharathidasan, held demonstrations. Annadurai participated in the first Anti Hindi imposition conference held in Kanchipuram on 27 February 1938. Two members of the protest, Thalamuthu and Natarajan, died as a consequence of police beating the same year. With overwhelming opposition, the government of Madras Presidency finally withdrew the order in 1940.

Madras Anti Hindi agitation of 1965

When India became a republic with its own constitution in 1950, the constitution had given special status to the Hindi language, which was to gain official status after 15 years in 1965. This move was regarded with anxiety by students in Tamil Nadu. In view of continued threat to impose Hindi, the DMK held an open-air conference against Hindi imposition at Kodambakkam, Chennai in August 1960, which Annadurai presided over. He gave black flags to leading functionaries, to be shown to the President of India during his visit to the state. Sensing an uprising, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru assured in the Parliament that English would continue to be the official language of India, as long as non-Hindi speaking people desire. DMK gave up the plan of showing black flags and Annadurai appealed to the Union Government to bring about a constitutional amendment incorporating the assurance.

Literary contributions

Annadurai was known as one of the best Tamil orators during his time.

He has published several novels, short stories and plays which incorporate political themes. He introduced movie media as a major organ for propaganda of Dravidian politics. In total Annadurai scripted six screen plays. On Velaikari, Annadurai said that the movie Velaikari made direct references against the suppressive landlords who were traditionally allied with Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi.

Some of the books were also controversial, such as "Arya Mayai" (Aryan Illusion) in which he scathingly attacks the Brahmin/Aryan combine and portrays them in a poor light. He was fined Rs 700 for sedition and was also sent to prison. His works of fiction such as Kapothipura kathal (Love in the city of Blind), Parvathy B.A., Kalinga rani (Queen of Kalinga) and Pavayin payanam (Travels of a young lady) carried elements of political propaganda.

Posts held

The provincial conference of the DMK was held at Tiruchirappalli in May 1956. Annadurai stepped down from the General Secretaryship of the party, and Nedunchezhian was elected to that position. It was at the Tiruchirappalli conference that the party decided to contest free India’s second general elections which were to be held in 1957. The DMK secured 15 Assembly seats and two parliamentary seats. The electoral victory of 1967 is also reputed to an electoral fusion among the non-Congress parties to avoid a split in the Opposition votes. Rajagopalachari, a former senior leader of the Congress party, had by then left the Congress and launched the right-wing Swatantra Party. He played a vital role in bringing about the electoral fusion amongst the opposition parties to align against the Congress. At that time, his cabinet was the youngest in the country. Self respect marriages were a brainchild of Periyar, who regarded the then conventional marriages as mere financial arrangements which often caused great debt through dowry. Self-Respect marriages, according to him, encouraged inter-caste marriages and caused arranged marriages to be replaced by love marriages. Annadurai was also the first to use subsidising of the price of rice for election victory. He promised one rupee a measure of rice, which he initially implemented once in government, but had to withdraw later. Subsidising rice costs are still used as a election promise in Tamil Nadu.

It was Annadurai's government that renamed the Madras State Tamil Nadu. The name change itself was first presented in the upper house (Rajya Sabha) of the Parliament of India by Bhupesh Gupta, a communist MP from West Bengal, but was then defeated.

Another major achievement of Annadurai's government was to introduce a two language policy over the then popular three language formula. Annadurai also issued an order for the removal of the pictures of gods and religious symbols from public offices and buildings. His health deteriorated further and he died on 3 February 1969. His funeral had the highest number of attendees until then, as registered with The Guinness Book of Records. An estimated 15 million people attended it. His remains were buried in the northern end of Marina Beach, which is now called Anna Square.

Legacy

campus of Anna University which is named after him]] Annadurai was the only political leader at the national level in India during his era who was not involved in the Indian independence movement. Anna University, a premier institution in science and technology was named after him. DMK's current head office built in 1987 is named after him as Anna Arivalayam. One of the major roads in Chennai was named in his honour, Anna Salai--it was previously called Mount Road, and a statue of Annadurai now stands there. The central government issued a commemorative coin of 5 denomination to mark the centenary celebrations of him on Sep 15, 2009 in Chennai. Jawaharlal Nehru hailed him as one of the great parliamentarians for speeches in Rajya Sabha. Selig Harrison, an US based analyst of South Asian and East Asian politics and journalism commented

The magazine India Today has listed Annadurai in its "Top 100 people who shaped India by thought, action, art, culture and spirit". In 2010, Anna Centenary Library was established in Chennai in remembrance of Annadurai.

Filmography

Anna's first movie script, of his play Velaikkari, fetched him a fee of Rs.12000 INR, a considerable sum at that time

Apart from his stories, the names of some of Annadurai's works were used as film titles for Panathottam (1963), Valiba virundhu (1967), Kumarikottam (1971), Rajapart Rangadurai (1973), Needhi devan mayakkam (1982).

References

See Also

List of places named after C. N. Annadurai

External links

C.N.Annadurai: One Hundred Tamils of 20th Century

C.N.Annadurai centenary: The website for C.N.Annadurai 100th birthday

Annadurai, C.N. Annadurai, C.N. Annadurai, C.N. Annadurai, C.N. Category:Indian Hindus Category:Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians Category:People from Kanchipuram District