Disclosures made by some of the prominent Congress leaders in the country point to the fact that M Karunanidhi, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister who passed away on Tuesday, had denied permission to cremate former TN Chief Ministers C Rajagopalachari and Kamaraj at Marina Beach in Chennai.
The revelations came at a time when the whole spectrum of political leaders and the media are lambasting the Edappady Palaniswamy Government for rejecting the request made by Karunanidhi’s family to bury him at Anna Memorial in Marina Beach. The former CM was buried at Anna Memorial on Wednesday following the intervention of the Madras High Court.
Rajagopalachari, popularly known as Rajaji, was one of the stalwarts of India’s freedom movement and was Chief Minister of the then Madras State. He was also the last Governor General of India, and also handled various Ministries at the Centre as well as in Tamil Nadu. When he passed away on Christmas of 1972, Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The spot for cremating Rajaji was selected by Karunanidhi, who ensured that Marina Beach was kept out of the reach of the relatives of the departed leader.
Annadurai, the first non-Congress Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, had been interred at Marina Beach in 1969. When Kamaraj, who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu as well as the president of the Indian National Congress, passed away in 1975, Karunanidhi refused the request made by Congress leaders to cremate him at Marina Beach. Tindivanam Ramamoorthy, who served as president of the TN Congress Committee, said Karunanidhi was unyielding in his stance that there was no space at Marina Beach for cremating Kamaraj.
“He told the delegation of leaders who met him that the Government was finding it difficult to maintain the memorial of Annadurai at Marina Beach,” Ramamoorthy told journalists.
Another senior Congress leader said Karunanidhi himself had selected the spot where Kamaraj was cremated. “Karunanidhi was an intelligent person. He ensured that a memorial for the anti-Hindi activists who lost their lives in the riots of 1965-1967 was built near the Kamaraj memorial,” said the leader who did not want his name to be quoted.
Reacting to the demand made by S Thirunavakkarassar, the TNCC president, that Karunanidhi should be honoured with the Bharat Ratna, the leader said the statement was sufficient proof of the reasons behind the state of affairs in Tamil Nadu Congress.