C. N. Annadurai

Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 19093 February 1969), also known as Perarignar Anna, was an Indian politician who was the founder and first general-secretary of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He served as the fourth and last chief minister of Madras State from 1967 until 1969, and then as the first chief minister of Tamil Nadu for 20 days before his death in office. He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold either post.

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, he rose in stature as a prominent member of the party.

Due to looming differences with Periyar on issues regarding a separate independent state of Dravida Nadu and the union with India, he crossed swords with his political mentor. The friction between the two finally erupted when Periyar married Maniammai, who was much younger than him. 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 the same ideologies as its parent, Dravidar Kazhagam. But with the evolution of national politics and the constitution of India after the Sino-Indian War in 1962, Annadurai dropped the claim for an independent Dravida Nadu. Various protests against the 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. Several institutions and organisations are named after him. A splinter party launched by M. G. Ramachandran in 1972 was named after him as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Early life Annadurai was born in a Tamil Sengunthar family on 15 September 1909 in Conjeevaram, Madras Presidency, in a lower-middle-class family. His father Natarajan Mudaliar was a weaver and his mother was Bangaru Ammal, a temple servant. 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. He attended Pachaiyappa's High School, in Pachaiyappa High School. Later he left teaching job and began involving himself in journalism and he served as an editor in few weekly magazine and then he indulged into politics.

Religion Though Annadurai was an atheist in his personal life as he took oath as the Chief Minister of the state in the 'name of conscience' rather than in the 'name of god', he proclaimed as "Only one race, Only one God" (Ondre Kulam Oruvanae Devan) from the Tamil work Tirumantiram penned by Tirumular in order to unify the people of Tamil Nadu. Though secular to the core, he later described himself as a Hindu sans the sacred ash, a Christian minus the holy cross, and a Muslim without the prayer cap.

Annadurai stated he 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)

Political career 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 C. Natesa Mudaliar, P. Theagaraya Chetty and 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 was the party president. Annadurai served as the sub-editor of the Justice magazine. He later became the editor for Viduthalai (Freedom in English) and was also associated with the Tamil weekly paper, Kudi Arasu. He started his own journal Dravida Nadu (named after the Dravida Naduan independent state that the party called for). In 1944, Periyar renamed the Justice party to Dravidar Kazhagam and gave up contesting in the elections.

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 co-operation between the southern states and claimed more autonomy for Tamil Nadu. On the party's position, Annadurai said To make the Dravidian state a separate state was our ideal. A situation has arisen where we can neither talk nor write about this ideal. Of course we can destroy the party by undertaking to violate the prohibition. But once the party itself is destroyed there will not be any scope for the ideal to exist or spread. That is why we had to give up the ideal.

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 scholars 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. he stated that "you learn English for world communication and learn Hindi for communication in India, it seems like big door for big cat and small door for small cat, why not let the small cat also enter in big door".

Madras Anti Hindi agitation, 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, known for his excellent oratorical skills, was fond of books. This image shows his private library.

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 made it clear that greed and avarice of the rich did not pay in the long run.[...] Some of the elementary principles of socialism and stressed that we should depend upon our own labour for our progress and well being and not some unknown factor.

Some of his books had a social approach and its content were debatable, such as "Arya Mayai" (Aryan Illusion) in which he highlighted the view point of bringing an equal living society regardless of any caste dominance and especially drawing similarities which existed by then of the upper-caste Brahmin (Aryan) people. He was fined INR 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 among 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 an election promise in Tamil Nadu.

It was Annadurai's government that renamed the Madras State to its present-day form declaring officially as 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. The three language formula, which was implemented in the neighbouring states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, entitled students to study three languages: the regional language, English and Hindi. 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 holds the record for highest number of attendees, 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 Memorial.

Legacy

After his electoral success with his DMK in 1967, the Congress has not yet returned to power in Tamil Nadu. His government was the first in the country to be from a non-Congress party with full majority. 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 15 September 2009 in Chennai. Jawaharlal Nehru hailed him as one of the great parliamentarians for speeches in Rajya Sabha. Selig Harrison, a US-based analyst of South Asian and East Asian politics and journalism commented, There is no doubt that this powerful orator is the single-most popular mass figure in the region In 2010, Anna Centenary Library was established in Chennai in remembrance of Annadurai.

A life-size statue of Annadurai was unveiled on 1 October 2002 in the Parliament House by then President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in his honour and the function was attended by notable politicians.

On 31 July 2020, Alandur metro station in Chennai has been renamed as Arignar Anna Alandur Metro by Government of Tamil Nadu to honour him.

His wife Rani Annadurai did not enter active politics after his death. She contested from Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency in 1977 Indian general election and lost. She died in 1996 at Chennai. They never had any children and hence they have adopted the four sons of Annadurai's elder sister namely Parimalam, Ilangovan, Gowthaman and Rajendra Babu. The granddaughter of Parimalam is Prithika Rani, an Indian Foreign Service officer of 2019 batch.

Filmography Year Film Credits 1949 Velaikaari Story, Screenplay and Dialogues 1949 Nallathambi Story, Screenplay and Dialogues 1951 Or Iravu Story and Dialogues 1954 Sorgavasal Story and Dialogues 1956 Rangoon Radha Story 1959 Thaai Magalukku Kattiya Thaali Story 1961 Nallavan Vazhvaan Story1962 Edhayum Thangum Idhayam Story 1970 Kadhal Jothi Story 1978 Vandikaaran Magan Story Annadurai's first movie script, of his play Velaikkari, fetched him a fee of 12,000, a considerable sum at that time (worth 1 crore in 2015 prices)

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).

In a scene from the film Iru Kodugal (1969), District Collector Janaki (Sowcar Janaki), meets the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The Chief Minister is not seen directly. Instead, C.N.Annadurai's voice (as imitated by Sivagangai Sethurajan) is heard. Also, a pair of glasses on the table and a pen in the foreground are seen.

The song sequence "Nee mannavana chinnavana" from the film Rudra Thandavam (1978) shows real footage of Annadurai's funeral.

In the film Walter Vetrivel (1993), Vijayakumar played Viswanathan (Tamil Nadu Minister for Home Affairs as per the plot). The actor's countenance in the film strongly resembles Annadurai.

In the film Iruvar (1997), Nassar played Ayya Veluthambi, a character whose role is reminiscent of Annadurai.

Annadurai is portrayed in the film Kamaraj (2004).

S. S. Stanley played Annadurai in the film Periyar (2007). Directed by Gnana Rajasekaran, the film had Sathyaraj in the lead role of Periyar, Annadurai's mentor. After Annadurai's death (not shown in the film), his real life photo is seen in the table of M. Karunanidhi, who succeeded him as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

The song sequence "Nee kondru kuvithatu" from the film Indiralohathil Na Azhagappan (2008) shows real footage of Annadurai.

Bharathi Kannan played Annadurai in the film Thalaivii (2021).