On September 17, 1949 when the DMK was born, no one of consequence other than EVR Periyar took any note. He had to. The DMK emerged in protest against his marriage to a much younger Maniammai who had also been named his successor. CN Annadurai (Anna), once his principal lieutenant and now the man heading the revolt, however, was all conciliation and deference to his political father. Describing his parent, reformist Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), and his own DMK as “double-barrelled guns”, he graciously named Periyar as the leader of DMK. None of this mollified the aghast EVR who insisted that Anna and his clan had abandoned the parent Kazhagam in their unabashed pursuit of power.
Despite Periyar’s virulent opposition, the independence fervour and no social media, Anna’s DMK grew fast. The movie Velaikkaari (1949) based on Anna’s play by the same name, had ended with the epigram, “One Humanity, One God” – clearly a far cry from the radical EVR’s, “There is no God, no God for sure.” Brilliantly employing public speech, writing, theatre, films and stars, Anna led the DMK to power in 1967. Before his death in 1969, he had renamed Madras State to Tamil Nadu, jettisoned Hindi in government schools, accorded legality to EVR’s self-respect marriages, and unsuccessfully introduced a-rupee-a-measure-of-rice, the most catchy of his election promises.
Anna’s successor Kalaignar Karunanidhi, of whom Anna had once said, “Of those who know me fully well, Karunanidhi tops the list,” took Anna’s social justice, cultural nationalism, left of centre and populist ideas further. He upped reservations, nationalised bus routes, introduced a state invocation song, abolished hand-pulled rickshaws, set up a slum clearance board, and brought in a slew of welfare measures. In 1971, under his leadership the DMK won a record number of seats in the Assembly and Parliamentary elections in the state.
Karunanidhi’s assertiveness, emphasis on state autonomy, and the DMK’s massive success, brought its own load of difficulties. Detractors faulted the DMK’s methods, alleged a free reign of corruption, and in 1972, the party split ushering in difficult times. It braved the Emergency, its dismissal in 1976, the Sarkaria Commission and the political wilderness thereafter till 1989, when it bounced back to power. Before it was pulled down in 1991, this time for alleged cohabitation with Lankan Tamil separatists, the DMK had pushed for the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)’s return, Mandal, the Cauvery tribunal, introduced free school education for Dalits and MBCs, provided free electricity for farmers, and legislated for equal property rights for women.
Rajiv Gandhi’s death in 1991, when the DMK was not in power, still brought another round of trouble for the party. Between 1996 and 2011, as the party alternated with the opposition in office and shared power at the Centre, it progressively reserved a third of the local body positions for women, built samathuvapurams, and introduced farmer markets, among other progressive measures. During this time however – nothing has been proven in the courts – its image had been tarnished by the 2G scam and critics’ refrain of family rule.
Seventy years later, some of the challenges still relate to the party’s core ideology of secularism and federalism. Thanks to the DMK, majority-minority relations are strong in the state. Yet with many more sympathetic to the argument of ‘pseudo secularism’, the party requires to be like Caesar’s wife – not be equidistant on matters of faith but also appear to be so. Similarly, with other regional parties falling behind, the DMK has to be in the vanguard in the fight against the centralising and predatory tendencies of the BJP.
Again the DMK should lay claim to the section of youth and underprivileged classes in the thrall of smaller parties. Jobs, sustainable growth and equitable distribution of welfare are important to these sections. On the other hand, even as electoral contests make caste inevitable, the party’s long-term goal of a casteless society is to be achieved by de-emphasising caste. Similarly, the two Es – economy and environment – will remain key for youth. Clear bespoke programmes drawn in consultation with experts on the two Es are long overdue. While studies show that Tamil Nadu is one of the three states that create the most jobs, it is clear that hundreds of more jobs need to be created daily to absorb the outpouring of skilled graduates. The party will have to seriously ponder over this.
The DMK is the one of the parties that has undertaken to erect legal hoardings and not otherwise. Likewise, the party might wish to consider establishing an exclusive wing for environment. In realpolitik, this might sound abstract for now but in the next decades it would be lauded as prescient and would become a necessity. In this regard the party should consider promising legislation on retrieving water bodies to the extent possible but also with right earnest. Youth, civil society and environmentalists will love to assist as they did when Stalin was the mayor of Chennai. Equally, rivers have to be saved from sand sharks. Time is of the essence in realising the master plans for the major metros of Tamil Nadu and of Cooum to ease traffic, reduce pollution and make these cities clean and liveable. Public-private-civil society partnership is the way forward.
On agriculture, the party needs to seriously consider de-emphasising water intensive farming and sensitising farmers to brace themselves for a future where they would have to do more with less water. The party has to partner with agriculturists and experts to promote newer and more suitable farming methods. Tamil Nadu cannot be at the mercy of the upper riparian states or nature forever. Statistics place roughly one out of 10 under the poverty line in the state. The DMK has to take upon itself the task of lifting these millions from poverty in its next administration. Importantly, simple commoners and the youth yearn for clean governance. Stalin’s track record as mayor, minister and deputy chief minister gives hope. The DMK has its work cut out.
R Kannan is with the political and mediation group of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia. Views expressed are the author’s own.
Source: The News Minute