Annadurai — known for his oratory and writing skills — was the last chief minister of the Madras state, which he renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969.
DMK founder and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister CN Annadurai (left) with social reformer Periyar EV Ramasamy. (Creative Commons)
15 September is the birth anniversary of the first chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai or CN Annadurai.
He was born to Natarajan and Bangaru Ammal on 15 September 1909. His father was a weaver.
Annadurai died on 3 February 1969. It was estimated that as many as 1.5 crore people gathered at his funeral, a figure mentioned in the Guinness Book of World records.
A look at the life of Perarignar (scholar) Anna as he was popularly called and why he remains still very influential in Tamil Nadu politics.
Annadurai was the last chief minister of Madras State, which he renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969. He implemented the Dravidian ideas related to social justice, state autonomy, and language rights. He is also known for his oratory and writing skills.
In 1949, he founded the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), now the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, after walking out from the Dravidar Kazhagam, the outfit floated by social reformer Periyar EV Ramasamy (EVR).
In his younger days, he was regular to college and a good student. He spent a lot of time in libraries. He participated in Tamil and English debate competitions during his college days.
The Pachaiyappan College Student Council, in 1931, selected Annadurai as its general secretary. Two years later, he became the president of the college’s Department of Economics Students’ Union. He graduated with an MA in economics.
A young Annadurai (Wikimedia Commons)
After completing his studies, he worked as a clerk in Kanchipuram Municipality for six months. Later, he worked as a Tamil teacher in Govindappa Nayakkan Middle School, Chennai.
A year before this, at 21, Anna married Rani Ammaiyar.
Anna went to Erode in 1937 and got a job as an assistant editor in Periyar’s Republic and Viduthalai dailies that paid ₹60. He was 28 when Periyar was amazed by Anna’s talent and entrusted him with the responsibility of presiding over the Self-Respect Movement Conference the same year.
The protest against Hindi imposition was one of the milestones in Anna’s political career.
The protest took place in 1937 when Rajaji came to power in Madras province and made learning Hindi compulsory in a section of schools from Classes 6 to 8. Periyar announced a protest against this.
Periyar served one year in prison, while Anna was in jail for four months over the Hindi imposition protest.
Anna did not like Periyar’s decision to make all the Dravidian Kazhagam members wear black shirts.
Anna felt that such a move would only isolate them. The rift between Anna and Periyar widened and they started disagreeing on many issues.
Periyar, then around 70 years old, decided to marry Maniammai, who was nearly 40 years younger than him. There was criticism that this would bring shame to the party and that Periyar was looking to make his wife the leader after him.
In this case, the dissidents formed the DMK on 17 September 1949. Anna became its general secretary. However, Periyar strongly criticised this new party.
DMK participated in the second Assembly election held in 1957 and his party had 15 MLAs. Anna won in the Kanchipuram constituency.
In the next election in 1962, the DMK won 50 seats, while Anna didn’t win. Subsequently, he was elected to Rajya Sabha by DMK MLAs.
Annadurai (front row, second from left) in conversation with Rajaji (third from left). In the right is M Karunanidhi (Mohan V Raman/Wikimedia Commons)
In 1963, the Congress government amended the Constitution to prohibit separatist organisations from participating in elections in India. Following this, Anna dropped the demand for a Dravidian nation.
However, this demand was transformed into a need for state autonomy. Mathiyil Kootatchi Maanilathil Suyatchi (a federal set-up at the Centre and autonomy for the state) is Anna’s famous slogan.
After this, the DMK, led by Anna, was actively involved in the anti-Hindi movement in 1965.
Even though Anna called off the protest when it turned violent, the agitation became the driving force behind the DMK’s rise to power. In addition, livelihood issues such as rising prices had created a wave of discontent against the Bhakthavatsalam-led Congress government.
The DMK contested the election, allying with the Swatantra Party led by Rajaji, the CPI(M), and others. On 6 March 1967, Anna became the chief minister.
Periyar shed his enmity with the DMK and Anna when the latter visited him after 18 years and gave EVR the credit for the party’s victory.
Among Anna’s achievements was passing a law to recognise marriages without priests. He also provided rice for one rupee, which was later shelved due to lack of funds.
The Second World Tamil Conference in Tamil Nadu was also one of his achievements. Subsequently, Anna brought the bilingual policy in the state. In April 1968, Anna went to Yale University in the US and gave a speech there. In the same year, Annamalai University conferred an honorary doctorate on Anna.
Anna underwent surgery for cancer at the end of January 1969 and died on February 3 at 12.20 am.
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