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M. Karunanidhi
Muthuvel Karunanidhi was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was a long-standing leader of the Dravidian movement
and ten-time president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam political party. Before entering politics he worked in the Tamil film industry as a screenwriter. He has also made contributions to Tamil literature,
having written stories, plays, novels, and a multiple-volume memoir. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar, meaning artist in Tamil. Karunanidhi died on 7 August 2018 at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai after prolonged,
age-related illness.
Early life and family
Karunanidhi was born of 3 June 1924, in the village of Thirukkuvalai in Nagapattinam district, Madras Presidency, to Ayyathurai Muthuvelu and Anjugam. He had two elder sisters, Periyanayagam and Shanmugasundarathammal.
At birth he was named Dakshinamurthy after a form of Shiva as a teacher, but he later changed it to Karunanidhi influenced by Dravidian and  rationalist movements that were against use of Brahmanical and gods' names.
In his own writings Karunanidhi said that his family were of Isai Velalar caste, a small Tamil community that traditionally played musical instruments at ceremonial occasions; however his political rival M. G. Ramachandran
and some observers contested that and said that he was of Telugu ancestry. As recalled in the first volume of his biography Nenjukku Needhi, during his childhood Karunanidhi was more interested in music, writing
and activism than schoolwork. He also recollects experiencing and revolting against caste-based discrimination during this period. His initial schooling was in Thirukkuvalai
and then in 1936 he shifted to a high school in Tiruvarur. As a teenager he was captivated by the political writings of Tamil leaders including Panagal Arasar, Periyar and Pattukottai Azhagirisamy.
Karunanidhi joined the anti-Hindi protests sparked by the provincial government's legislation making Hindi-education mandatory in schools,
and in 1938 organised a group of boys to hold demonstrations traveling around Tiruvarur on a cycle rickshaw. The law was rescinded in 1939. The taste for activism however stuck and in the ensuing years,
after a brief flirtation with Communism, Karunanidhi started following the work and speeches of leaders of Justice Party, Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He ignored schooling
and dropped-out after failing three-times in the final year. Karunanidhi started his first magazine, at age 15, called Manava Nesan, which was hand-written and distributed.
It was soon followed by the establishment of Murasoli. He expanded into writing plays propagating Dravidian ideology, and at age 20 starting writing and performing in plays for the Dravid Nadigar Kazhagam professionally.
Karunanidhi married three times. His first marriage was to Padmavathi in September 1944, and they had a son M. K. Muthu, who was briefly active in Tamil films and politics. Padmavathi died in 1948 soon after childbirth.
In September of that year, Karunanidhi's marriage was arranged with Dayalu Ammal, with whom he had three sons, M. K. Alagiri, M. K. Stalin and M. K. Tamilarasu, and a daughter, M. K. Selvi. Alagiri
and Stalin are active in state politics and competed to be their father's political successors, before Stalin prevailed. Tamilarasu is a businessman and film-producer and campaigner for his father and his party;
Selvi campaigned for Karunanidhi elections too. With his third wife, Rajathi Ammal, Karunanidhi had a daughter, Kanimozhi, who is seen as his literary heir.
Screenwriting
 [^]  Karunanidhi began his career as a screenwriter in the Tamil film industry. His first movie as screen writer was Rajakumari produced by Coimbatore based Jupiter Pictures directed by A. S. A. Sami starring M. G.
Ramachandran. During this period he and M. G. Ramachandran, then an upcoming actor and later day founder of AIADMK party started a long friendship eventually turning into rivals in later years politics.
His stint with Jupiters Pictures then housed at Central Studios continued for another MGR starrer Abhimanyu , Marudhanaattu Ilavarasi starring M. G. Ramachandran and V. N. Janaki. Around late 1949, T. R.
Sundaram of Modern Theatres Studio in Salem engaged Karunanidhi as scriptwriter for the film Manthiri Kumari starring M. G. Ramachandran which would become be a blockbuster hit. Later T. R.
Sundaram had Karunanidhi on permanent rolls at Modern Studio.
Parasakthi
His most notable movie was Parasakthi, a turning point in Tamil cinema, as it espoused the ideologies of the Dravidian movement and also introduced two prominent actors of Tamil filmdom, Sivaji Ganesan and S. S.
Rajendran. The movie was initially marred with controversies and faced censorship troubles, but was eventually released in 1952. becoming a huge box office hit.
The movie was opposed by orthodox Hindus since it contained elements that criticised Brahmanism. Two other movies written by Karunanidhi that contained such messages were Panam directed by famous comedian
and political activist N. S. Krishnan and Thangarathnam produced and acted by S. S. Rajendran another popular actor and DMK activist. These movies contained themes such as widow remarriage, abolition of untouchability,
self-respect marriages, abolition of zamindari and abolition of religious hypocrisy. Another memorable hit movie was Manohara  starring Sivaji Ganesan, S. S. Rajendran and P. Kannamba known for its crisp dialogues.
Writing and narration style
Through his wit and oratorical skills he rapidly rose as a popular politician. As his movies and plays with strong social messages became popular, they suffered from increased censorship;
two of his plays in the 1950s were banned. He was famous for writing historical and social stories which propagated the socialist and rationalist ideals of the Dravidian movement to which he belonged. Alongside C. N.
Annadurai he began using Tamil cinema to propagate his political ideals through his movies.
Filmography
At the age of 20, Karunanidhi went to work for Jupiter Pictures as a scriptwriter. His first film, Rajakumaari, gained him much popularity. It was here that his skills as a scriptwriter were honed,
which extended to several films. He was active in screenwriting even during his later political career till 2011 when he last wrote for historic movie Ponnar Shankar.
Literature
 [^]  Karunanidhi is known for his contributions to Tamil literature. His contributions cover a wide range: poems, letters, screenplays, novels, biographies, historical novels, stage-plays, dialogues and movie songs.
He has written Kuraloviam for Thirukural, Tholkaappiya Poonga, Poombukar, as well as many poems, essays and books. Apart from literature, Karunanidhi has also contributed to the Tamil language through art and architecture.
Like the Kuraloviyam, in which Kalaignar wrote about Thirukkural, through the construction of Valluvar Kottam he gave an architectural presence to Thiruvalluvar, in Chennai. At Kanyakumari,
Karunanidhi constructed a 133-foot-high statue of Thiruvalluvar in honour of the scholar.
Entry into politics
Karunanidhi entered politics at the age of 14, inspired by a speech by Alagiriswamii of the Justice Party, and participated in Anti-Hindi agitations. He founded an organisation for the local youth of his locality.
He circulated a handwritten newspaper called Manavar Nesan to its members. Later he founded a student organisation called Tamil Nadu Tamil Manavar Mandram, which was the first student wing of the Dravidan Movement.
Karunanidhi involved himself and the student community in social work with other members. Here he started a newspaper for its members, which grew into Murasoli, the DMK party's official newspaper.
The first major protest that aided Karunanidhi in gaining ground in Tamil politics was his involvement in the Kallakudi agitation in Kallakudi. Original name of this industrial town was Kallakudi
and it was changed to Dalmiapuram after a cement mogul who built a cement plant there. DMK wanted to change the name back to Kallakudi. In the protest Karunanidhi
and his companions erased the name Dalmiapuram from the railway station and lay down on the tracks blocking the course of trains. Two people died in the protest and Karunanidhi was arrested.
Rise to power
At the age of 33, Karunanidhi entered the Tamil Nadu assembly by winning the Kulithalai seat in the 1957 election. He became the DMK treasurer in 1961 and deputy leader of opposition in the state assembly in the year 1962
and when the DMK came to power in 1967, he became the Minister for Public Works.
Chief Minister
When Annadurai died in 1969, Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and the first leader of DMK,
since the leader post was customarily left vacant for Periyar during Annadurai time as Annadurai was party general secretary only. He has held various positions in the party
and government during his long career in Tamil Nadu political arena.
70's and Emergency
During the Emergency, the DMK was the only ruling party across India that opposed the Emergency, for which his government was summarily dismissed by Indira Gandhi's government and many of his party leaders were arrested
and jailed till the Emergency was lifted. Later, the D.M.K teamed up with the Janata Party post-Emergency, but suffered defeat at the assembly elections under accusations of corruption. His one time friend M. G.
Ramachandran, who floated his AIADMK party after being sacked by Karunanidhi from DMK a few years earlier, would come to power in Tamil Nadu.
The DMK then suffered multiple electoral defeats against his primary opponent M.G.Ramachandran's AIADMK, until the latter's death in 1987.  [^]   [^] 
80's & 90's
Karunanidhi had a brief stint as Chief Minister in the late 1980s, during which his government was dismissed by the Central government on accusations of degrading the law
and order situation in the state after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. He later again became the CM of Tamil Nadu in 1996 following a sweeping electoral win in the preceding elections. Following a five-year rule,
his party again lost at the elections to J. Jayalalithaa's AIADMK in 2001.
2000's
He was however back in power when he took over as chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 13 May 2006 after his coalition defeated his main opponent J. Jayalalithaa in the May 2006 elections.
At the end of the 5-year administration, the DMK lost the majority of seats in the legislative assembly of Tamil Nadu when elections were held in 2011, thereby ceding power again to the AIADMK under J. Jayalalithaa.
During the 2016 closely fought elections DMK narrowly lost seats against J. Jayalalithaa's AIADMK. He represents the constituency of Tiruvarur in the Tamil Nadu state Legislative Assembly.
He has been elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly 13 times and once to the now abolished Tamil Nadu Legislative Council.
World Tamil Conference
He delivered the special address on the inaugural day of 3rd World Tamil Conference held in Paris in 1970, and also on the inaugural day of 6th World Tamil Conference held in Kuala Lumpur in 1987.
He penned the song "Semmozhiyaana Tamizh Mozhiyaam", the official theme song for the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010, that was set to tune by A. R. Rahman. 'Ulaga Tamizh Manadu' [ World Tamil Conference ],
was the first coined word for the conference in 2010, however the IATR organisation that had right to conduct the conference was not happy hence change in name.
Illness, death and reactions
Karunanidhi was in poor health from October 2016 and minimised his political activities and public appearances, with the last one being on his 94th birthday on 3 June 2018. On 28 July 2018,
Karunanidhi's health deteriorated and became "extremely critical and unstable", and he was admitted at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai for treatment. He died there at 6:10 p.m. on 7 August 2018 due to age-related illness,
which led to multiple organ failure. The government of Tamil Nadu declared a public holiday on 8 August 2018 and a seven-day mourning after Karunanidhi's death.
A national mourning on 8 August 2018 was announced by the government of India. The national flag flew half-mast in Delhi, all state capitals and across Tamil Nadu on 8 August 2018. The governments of Karnataka
and Bihar announced one-day and two-days state mourning respectively.
Controversies
He has been indicted by the Sarkaria commission for corruption in allotting tenders for the Veeranam project. Indira Gandhi dismissed the Karunanidhi government based on charges of possible secession and corruption.
In 2001, he was arrested on the charges of corruption in the construction of flyovers in Chennai. He and his party members were also charged under four Sections like IPC 120, IPC 167, IPC 420 and IPC 409.
Ram Setu remarks
In response to the Sethusamudram controversy, Karunanidhi questioned the existence of the Hindu God Rama. He said 'It is said that there was a God thousands of years ago called Ram. Do not touch the bridge built by him.
I ask who is this Ram? Which engineering college did he graduate from?" His remarks caused a firestorm of controversy.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Karunanidhi of religious discrimination when noting "We would like to know from Karunanidhi if he would make a similar statement against religious head of any other religion;
chance are he may not."
Connections with LTTE
In April 2009, in an interview to NDTV, Karunanidhi made a controversial remark stating that "Prabhakaran is my good friend" and also said,
"India could not forgive the LTTE for assassinating Rajiv Gandhi".An interim report of Justice Jain Commission, which oversaw the investigation into Rajiv Gandhi's assassination,
had indicted Karunanidhi for abetting Rajiv Gandhi's murderers, who belonged to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. but the final report contained no such allegations.
Allegations of nepotism
Karunanidhi has been accused by opponents, by some members of his party, and by other political observers of trying to promote nepotism. Many political opponents
and DMK party senior leaders have been critical of the rise of M. K. Stalin in the party. But some of the party men have pointed out that Stalin has come up on his own. He has faced a lot of hardship since 1975,
when he was jailed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act and was beaten up in jail so brutally during the Emergency that a fellow DMK party prisoner died trying to save him. Stalin was an MLA in 1989
and 1996 when his father Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister, but he was not inducted into the Cabinet. He became Chennai's 44th mayor and its first directly elected mayor in 1996.
It was only in his fourth term as MLA that he was made a Minister in the Karunanidhi cabinet and then in 2009 was made the Deputy Chief Minister. Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi is a Rajya Sabha MP now.
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