Muthuvelar Karunanidhi, the DMK president officially turned 90 on Monday, which earned him the sobriquet the grand old man of Indian politics. His official date of birth is June 3, 1924, though peers say he is at least 92.
The Dravida leaders never publicise their original date of birth for fear of black magic and sorcery by opponents. Even as his entourage of security guards and personal staff were pushing him around the Anna Samadhi at Marina Beach on Monday morning, dejection and disappointment were written largely on the face of Karunanidhi.
The DMK leadership had made elaborate arrangement for the birthday clebrations. Party cadre from across the state had landed in Chennai since Sunday night to greet the birthday boy who turned up in white veshti and shirt and the customised yellow shawl. Karunanidhi never appears in public without the yellow shall which acts as a shield to protect him from the evil eyes of the AIADMK leadership as well as enemies in his own party. The Kalaignar TV network owned by the Karunanidhi family telecast songs penned by the patriarch. Anchor-persons eulogised him as the poet of poets and Tamil’s all time literary genius.
Three issues of immediate concern were haunting him on his birthday. His second wife Dayalu Ammal has been summoned by the CBI Court to appear before it on July 8 in connection with the 2G Spectrum Case. Dayalu Ammal was the director of the Kalaignar TV which receivedRs 200 crore, believed to be kickbacks of the spectrum allocation, from one of the beneficiaries. Though her lawyers had told the court that she has been diagnosed with “cognitive and behavioural abnormalities”, judge OP Saini is not amused.
In yet another development, Kanimozhi, Karunanidhi’s favourite daughter by his third wife Rajathi Ammal, is completing her six-year term in Rajya Sabha in July.. The DMK has only 23 members in the legislative assembly and requires 11 more votes to ensure the smooth sailing of Kanomozhi. Though Karunanidhi had sent feelers to the DMDK leader Vijayakant, the latter is yet to come out with a reply. The birthday boy was expecting a telephone call from the DMDK office which too did not materialise on Monday. Till early 2011, leaders of political parties were awaiting a phone call from Karunanidhi’s office. But the DMK patriarch nowadays spends time waiting for either phone calls or visits from his one -time colleagues and friends which are not getting realized.
What distutbs Karunanidhi’s sleep nowadays is the direct fighting and muscle flexing by MK Alagiri and MK Stalin, two sons by Dayalu Ammal. Both are vying with one another to emerge as the heir apparent to Karunanidhi. Though Karunanidhi had given enough hints that Stalin would be his chosen heir, he has not made any official declaration. While Stalin is tormenting his father to anoint him as the party chief, Alagiri had made it clear to Karunanidhi that he would not recognise or accept anybody other than his father as the party chief. Adding to Karunanidhi’s woes, Alagiri gas decided to shift his area of operation to Chennai from Madurai. Even as a bungalow is getting readied for Alagiri, younger brother Stalin has started feeling the heat. Karunanidhi’s major rngagement nowadays is to ensure the ceasefire between the warring brothers.
In addition to these issues, he has to offer counsel to grand children and grand nephews who has their own vested interests spread across the State. “For Karunanidhi, his family has been the top priority since the days he entered politics. Since 1969, he has convered the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam into Kalignar Kudumba Kazhagam (Kalaignar’s Family Party),’ said 87-year-old AM Raja, former DMK MlA and one of the oldest surviving colleagues of CN Annadurai, founder of the DMK. “Karunanidhi became Chief Minister in 1969 by default. VR Nedumchezhiyan was the automatic choice of the party. But MG Ramachandran and some other leaders thought he may not fit the bill because of his honesty and straightforwardness. That was how Karunanidhi was made the Chief Minister. But after becoming the Chief Minister, Karunanidhi took control of the party machinery. Today, the DMK is an enterprise of the Karunanidhi clan,” said Raja, who left politics in 1969 to concentrate in agriculture.
According to Raja, there is nothing wrong with the mental faculty of Karunanidhi. “He is as sharp and intelligent as he was when he became the chief minister for the first time in 1969. But I doubt whether he will be able to make it to Fort Saint George again. Physically he has been incapacitated come inactive and how he is going to enforce truce between his children is the major question,” said Raja over telephone from his Erode farmhouse.
Even if Karunanidhi calls it a day, the DMK would be under the tight control of his family. There are no second-wrung leaders in the party who could pose a challenge to Azhagiri, Stalin, Kanimozhi, Selvi or Tamil Arasu and their children. At least for the next two generations, the DMK would remain as Kalaignar’s private enterprise. That is Karunanidhi’s greatest achievement.