Thread by @Profdilipmandal

A thread. Kalaignar #Karunanidhi succeeded where north Indian leaders of social justice failed. I looked at the different itineraries of the social justice movements and tried to investigate how the @RSSorg won the north but failed in Tamilnadu. #ForeverKalaignar … (continue)

The movement led by the troika of Periyar-Annadurai-Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu has emerged as the most successful model of social justice and economic transformation in India…

I would like to argue that the success of this model was made possible due to the efforts of one of the greatest sons of Tamil Nadu, Dr. M. Karunanidhi.

Interestingly, north Indian leaders of the social justice movement failed to replicate the success story of Tamil Nadu and succumbed to the communal politics of the BJP/RSS.

Independent India has seen many silent revolutions — the rise of so-called lower castes in the political sphere — in different states at different times. Caste-based social imbalances continued to create havocs and tensions in the stagnant social paradigms.

But paradigms are never fixed. When old paradigms fail to sustain, the inherent tensions eventually lead to social changes and revolutions.

The Subalterns, underclass, farmers, artisans and other producing classes were earlier not represented adequately in various spaces. This created tensions in the political spaces.

This was the genesis of the social justice movement in India. This movement took shape and gathered momentum at different times in different geographical locations and states.
Tamil Nadu saw such paradigm shifts in the 1920s and again in 50s & 60s.

Thanthai Periyar was undoubtedly the greatest ideologue of Dravidian philosophy but it was Annadurai and his finest disciple Kalaignar who actually implemented the policies of social justice, rationalism, growth and self respect in Tamil Nadu.

Kaliagnar won assembly elections 13 times. He became Tamil Nadu’s chief minister on five occasions and ruled the state for almost two decades. Even when he was not the chief minister, his presence continued to guide the course of state politics and policies.

What made Karunanidhi special was his unique way of blending growth and social/gender justice. He was a social revolutionary, rationalist writer and thinker, champion of ideas like federalism and social justice, able administrator, master of electoral politics.

He took part in the language movement when he was in school and always opposed the hegemonic imposition of Hindi on Tamil people. He always worked to enable the masses and strived to make them able to work for their own welfare.

He tried to democratise religion and introduced the idea of all caste and gender priests in Tamil Nadu temples. This scheme was actually implemented during the @mkstalin era.

Kalaignar changed the lives of millions of Tamil people for good and thus provided a role model and template for other Indian states and also for the Union government to follow. He introduced a common education board in Tamil Nadu and fought to retain it during the AIADMK rule.

He introduced a common habitat model for all castes — Samathuvapuram Housing Scheme — for the first time. His government introduced inheritance rights for the women in ancestral property. He also started reserving seats in local bodies for the women.

30 percent reservation for women in government jobs was one of his ideas. In many of his acts and deeds, he was actually ahead of his times.

Today Tamil Nadu has the highest number of working women in the country. This is one of the legacies of #DravidianModel, established by Annadurai and his disciple Kalaignar Karunanidhi.

Karunanidhi was credited for carrying forward the legacy of the Justice Party and Self-Respect Movement. He succeeded where north Indian stalwarts failed. Karunanidhi blended his ideology with governance and growth. That is his unique contribution to the idea of justice.

He remained an atheist all his life but when he got ill due to old age and his condition deteriorated, people of all faiths organised prayers at their religious places for him. Such was the life of Dr. M Karunanidhi.

He always wished to be buried next to his mentor Anna. Despite the AIADMK Govt creating hurdles, the Madras High Court order ensured that Karunanidhi’s last wish was fulfilled. Senior advocate and now Rajya Sabha MP @PWilsonDMK played a stellar role in that legal battle.

Karunanidhi emerged as the winner even after his death.