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[size=12pt][b]From an ideology-based political outfit, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has today turned into a party of the family, by the family and for the family. Swati Das looks into the past and analyses how the party relinquished ‘Dravidianism’ and turned into a money-making machine for the ‘first family’
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Kalaignar M Karunanidhi, the patriarch of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the party that stole the thunder from the ruling Congress in Tamil Nadu in the 1960s, still insists that he holds up the formative ideals and principles of party founder CN Annadurai. But instead of carrying forward the legacy of the founding members, the DMK has repeatedly compromised its ideological basis in the pursuit of power and pelf.

Karunanidhi succeeded Annadurai, checkmating others in line, to not only lead the party but also head the State in 1969. Four decades later, today, when Karunanidhi guards the DMK as his family enterprise, bringing disrepute to the party like never before, ‘Dravidianism’ that ushered in social reform in the State appears to have come to an end.

The DMK was born on September 17, 1949, in defiance of its parent organisation, the Dravidar Kazhgam, founded by EV Ramasamy ‘Periyar’ — father of Dravidianism, Anna’s mentor. Anna formed the party with VR Nedunchezhian, KA Mathiazhagan, K Anbazhagan (current State Finance Minister), NV Natarajan, EVK Sampath and thousands of supporters at Robinson Park in north Madras. Karunanidhi was then with Periyar.

The DMK was formed to bring about social reform through political power, to awaken the poor trapped in feudal servility, and make them aware of their rights, and redeem their self-respect in the face of caste oppression. The ideological foundation of the party was built on anti-Brahmin, anti-capitalist, anti-Hindi and anti-Aryan campaigns, targeting the Congress as the representative of the oppressors. Although Dravidianism was one word for many things, it had a clearly identified political enemy in the Congress.

At first there was a secessionist streak and a demand for Dravida Nadu and autonomy. “I tell them clearly: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is the colleague of dignity, is the friend of principles and is the camp for Dravidam,” Anna had said after forming his party.

However, for Anna, enlightening the masses about their rights and the need for social justice did not mean indulging in caste politics and sectarianism. The demand for Dravida Nadu was not a weapon with which he could threaten the Centre, but was a plea for self-determination of the people of the region. Now, however, the Dravidian identity and self-determination are mere slogans to win concessions from the Centre and national-level allies.

Similarly, while Anna had a spotlessly clean image, there were charges of corruptions against some of his Ministers. Anna, himself sincere and clean, was disturbed by the corruption in his party and died an unhappy man. Corruption only took more vicious forms in the DMK and its breakaway groups such as the AIADMK.

The 2G spectrum scam, the arrest of DMK leader and former Union Minister

A Raja and allegations of corruptions on the Kalaignar (artist) himself have now taken the corruption to a new high. But the degeneration, in both theory and practice, started in the late 1960s, from the time the party came to power.

The first compromise at the ideological level began with the effort to win the elections in 1967: The DMK realised it needed other parties, however ideologically inimical they might be, in order to fight the Congress. Anna’s DMK strongly criticised ‘capitalist’ C Rajagopalachari’s (Rajaji) Congress Government in Tamil Nadu and played a key role in his ouster in 1950. But despite its egalitarian and socialist pretensions, the party aligned with Rajaji’s Swatantra Party, which espoused the cause of privatisation and liberalisation.

Anna’s dream for a Dravida Nadu was relinquished at the time of the 1962 India-China war. Anna had said that the DMK had given up the demand for Dravida Nadu, but not the reasons for such a demand. Today the threat of Dravida Nadu is revived only to chastise a national ally, whether it is the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Dravidianism took another hit in 1971 when Karunanidhi decided to align with the Indira Gandhi faction of the Congress. After having fought all that the Congress stood for in the previous two decades, the DMK joined hands with Mrs Gandhi just to keep out what was then the dominant faction of the Congress in Tamil Nadu, the Congress (O) led by K Kamaraj. Ideology gave way to political convenience and electoral prospects.

Another serious compromise came about when Karunanidhi joined hands with the BJP, which was opposed to the anti-Brahmin agitations and violence that some of the party members, including Kalaignar, had indulged in from time to time.

No doubt, the door to BJP was opened first by his bête noire, AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa, but the DMK’s compromise was seen as a considerable dilution of the Dravidian politics. AIADMK founder

MG Ramachandran did not make any bones about departing from Dravidian ideologies, being a Congressman at heart, but it was Karunanidhi who prided himself as the ‘true’ Dravidian. The compromise was all the more striking in his case.

Corruption has dogged the Dravidian parties, be it the DMK or the AIADMK. The first major controversy of the Karunanidhi Government resulted in its dismissal on charges of corruption and secessionism by Mrs Gandhi’s Government at the Centre in the 1970s. The Sarkaria Commission indicted Karunanidhi for corruption in 28 cases, including the one in allotting tenders for the Veeranam project. The commission credited the DMK with perfecting the art of “scientific corruption”. “To the public exchequer, it would mean an additional burden of several crores and to the public looking long for adequate water supply, a tortuous wait for at least two years more. The responsibility for this huge waste of public money must rest squarely on Shri Karunanidhi and Shri Sadiq Pasha,” the commission had said.

The Karunanidhi Government’s 1996-2001 tenure provided a good administration, but lost to the AIADMK in the 2001 Assembly election. The Jayalalithaa Government did arrest Karunanidhi and his son, current Deputy Chief Minister MK Stalin, on charges of corruption in building bridges during this tenure, but no evidence was found to support the charges.

The DMK’s alliance with the Congress in 2004 and its subsequent clean sweep in the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu made the party powerful in the UPA-I. Regaining power in the State two years later, the DMK once again thrived on corruption, namely the 2G scam. The 2G auction, where procedural norms were allegedly flouted to favour a few, began in the UPA-I.

Clamour for power drove the DMK to indulge in hard bargaining and lobbying for plum portfolios in the UPA-II. The lobbying that took place to get Raja the Telecom Ministry is well recorded in the leaked Niira Radia tapes. Raja has been arrested after months of denying charges and lately, the needle of suspicion has fallen on Karunanidhi and his family members.

Though Raja is a Dalit, this is unlikely to have any bearing on how people view the 2G scam in the coming Assembly polls. Yet, Karunanidhi continues to play the caste card, claiming that Raja was being victimised by the upper castes. Karunanidhi’s staunch backing for Raja against the advice of members within his own party, including his sons, is likely to create political difficulties.

In contrast, MGR’s AIADMK projected a clean and corruption-free image in the first term (1977-80). But the subsequent terms in office were nowhere near being clean. His successor, Jayalalithaa, faced a whole load of corruption charges during her 1991-96 tenure as Chief Minister. She herself has been acquitted in many of the cases.

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy has targeted both parties for corruption during different periods. Swamy recently sought the Governor’s sanction to prosecute Karunanidhi in the case related to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) scam in which a favoured few were allotted properties under the discretionary quota. Karunanidhi has denied the allegations and given a list of beneficiaries under the same scheme when the AIADMK was in power. But Swamy has collected evidence for 23 cases against Karunanidhi.

The CBI is also probing a money transaction between Mumbai-based DB Realty and Kalaignar TV belonging to the Karunanidhi family. DB Realty’s telecom arm Swan Telecom, now rechristened Etisalat-DB, benefited the most from the 2G spectrum allocations by the Raja Ministry. Investigating officers are probing if the `214 crore transaction was part of kickbacks paid for Raja’s largesse. Kalaignar TV has claimed that it had no knowledge that the investment came from DB Realty and that the money was returned with due interest. DB Realty promoter Shahid Usman Balwa is currently in CBI custody.

Anna was known for his warmth and wanted his party to function like a family. But today, Karunanidhi’s family has become the party as the patriarch decided to follow the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty rule. In trying to promote his family, the DMK lost some key stalwarts of the party.

When Anna died in 1969, Nedunchezhian was expected to be his successor. Karunanidhi ensured that the seat came to him. For this, he had taken the support of MGR. He created the president’s post for himself, superseding the highest post of the party general secretary, held by Anna. Unhappy with MGR’s popularity, Karunanidhi tried to promote his oldest son MK Muthu. Upset and disillusioned by alleged corruption in the party, MGR broke away to form the AIADMK in 1972.

Next to go was another popular figure in the party, V Gopalasamy, now known as Vaiko, the MDMK chief. Karunanidhi, this time, promoted his third son Stalin. Vaiko was charged of plotting to kill Karunanidhi and expelled from the DMK.

The promotion of Stalin as his political heir has irked Karunanidhi’s other children. His second son MK Azhagiri, the Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister, has challenged Stalin’s position and demanded a share in party hierarchy. He is a cause for Karunanidhi’s worry as he has vowed to contest Stalin’s succession. Though Azhagiri was sent to Madurai in the hope that he would not come in the way of Karunanidhi’s plans, Azhagiri created a fiefdom for himself in the southern districts and now made sure he has his say in the party.

Karunanidhi’s nephew and late Union Minister Murasoli Maran was the think tank of the party and a master strategist. He always got a key portfolio in the Union Cabinet. When he died in 2003, a shattered Karunanidhi bestowed on Maran’s younger son Dayanidhi Maran the post of Union Communications Minister. In UPA-II, he became the Textiles Minister.

However, Maran’s rise and arrogance irked Karunanidhi’s family. Murasoli Maran’s elder son, Kalanidhi Maran, is a business tycoon, owning the multi-million dollar media house, Sun TV Group. In the family politics the Maran brothers sided with Stalin. Using its media channels, the Marans projected Stalin, in 2007, as Karunanidhi’s successor. This had led to a family feud and Dayanidhi Maran lost his post in the Communication Ministry. It was then that Raja was made the Telecom Minister.

Subsequently, Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi became the Rajya Sabha MP. She took over from Maran as the link person of Delhi. During the raging family feud, to counter Sun Network, Kalaignar TV was started. Karunanidhi’s second wife Dayalu Ammal holds 60 per cent share in this channel, while Kanimozhi holds 20 per cent. The other 20 per cent is held by an outsider. The channel is the mouthpiece of the DMK.

Before the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the differences were tried to be overcome. Sources say all that took to patch up the family feud was a money deal.

In the family dynamics, Raja belongs to the Kanimozhi and her mother Rajathi Ammal’s camp. The 2G scam, Raja’s resignation and his arrest had isolated this camp from the rest of the family. But Karunanidhi’s support for Raja and his dictate forced the party to rally behind him.

Karunanidhi entered politics through films. Even to this day he is a script writer. This is the craft that has given him his title ‘Kalaignar’. Two of his grandchildren, especially Stalin’s son Udayanidhi, are into movie production and own companies of their own. There are dancers and singers in his family. Karunanidhi’s hold over the film industry is often criticised by Jayalalithaa. Marans’ Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV) still monopolises cable network in the State. During the feud, Azhagiri countered SCV by starting the Royal Cable Vision in Madurai. Recently, Azhagiri’s son Durai Dayanidhi also began his own Multi-System Operator — JAK Communications.

Karunanidhi’s third wife, Rajathi, is in the furniture business and owns a prime showroom, Royal Enterprise. Her conversation with Radia exposed an alleged property deal as a possible pay off for Raja’s Telecom Ministry in the UPA-II. Kanimozhi, on her part, organises the annual cultural fest, Chennai Sangamam, and her associate Fr Jagath Casper Raj was under the scanner of the CBI for money trail.

This is the ‘first family’ of Tamil Nadu. What remains of Dravidianism, Mr Karunanidhi?

Who’s who of K company

MK Azhagiri

The second son of Karunanidhi, Azhagiri is the ‘muscleman’ of the DMK. Although he aspires to succeed his father, Karunanidhi appears to prefer his younger son, MK Stalin. Seeing him as a threat to his heir-apparent, his father banished him to Madurai where he slowly established himself and came out stronger. He has delivered south Tamil Nadu for the party.

MK Stalin

He may look reticent and media-shy, but Stalin is no pushover. In the past five years, he has come up as the party’s chief strategist. He has full faith and support of Karunanidhi. In 2009, Stalin was nominated as the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

MK Kanimozhi

The chief of the DMK’s wing for “Art, Literature and Rationalism”, Kanimozhi is seen as her father’s “literary heir”. She seems to have inherited the love for poetry from Karunanidhi. A member of Parliament, she is the party’s face in New Delhi.

Dayanidhi Maran

Urban and English-speaking, Dayanidhi Maran is the grandnephew of Karunanidhi and son of the late Murasoli Maran. Today, the man behind him is his brother, Kalanidhi Maran, who runs Sun TV. Dayanidhi is also the Minister for Textiles in the Union Cabinet. In the past, he had also served as the Minister for Communications and Information Technology.
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