The politics of Tamil Nadu may have been vastly different if Biju Patnaik's master plan of September 1979 had succeeded. He had attempted, and nearly succeeded, in what would appear to be an impossible dream today- the merger of the DMK and the AIADMK.
In the third volume of his autobiographical book ‘Nenjukku Needhi’, Karunanidhi mentioned in detail about Biju Patnaik and it was he who referred to him as a “Uyarntha Manidan” (the tall man)
India got its first non-Congress Government at the Centre in 1977, after Indira Gandhi’s Congress was routed because of the Emergency excesses. The Janata Party Government was suffering from congenital maladies; it was never in good health since its formation.
The period between 1977 and 1979 was one of political uncertainties. Public perception about the Government in New Delhi was marred by the naked power struggle among its top leaders. Clashing prime ministerial ambitions of Jagjivan Ram and Charan Singh resulted in a veritable deluge of bad publicity for the ruling party.
In July 1979, Raj Narain and Charan Singh pulled out of the Janata Party on the flimsy reason. Morarji Desai was forced to resign and Charan Singh was sworn in as the caretaker Prime Minister, with tacit support of Indira’s Congress Party. Indira demanded her pound of flesh in the form of withdrawal of the cases filed against her for the Emergency excesses. However, Indira’s blackmail did not work, Charan Singh refused to withdraw the Emergency related court cases, and she withdrew support. His Government could not even face the lok Sabha during its brief tenure of just 24 days.
Biju was then the Union Minister of Steel both under Morarji Desai, and thereafter Charan Singh. He was a known strongman in the party and had a good rapport with all the leaders of different parties. He could read the writing on the wall: India was heading towards fresh elections.
MG Ramachandran was the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The thespian actor-politician had a cult following. His party AIADMK, floated in 1972 after the split with the DMK over differences with Karunanidhi, had come to power after just five years of its formation. MGR was two years into his first term as Chief Minister, and had supported the Charan Singh Government at the Centre, but the wily south Indian politician knew that elections were looming on the horizon.
He was aware that the Janata Party’s repeated debacles in its short stint were propelling Indira Gandhi back into the popularity charts. He sent feelers to her, but the wary Indira adopted a cautious stand.
A meeting was fixed between the two at Delhi for the September 6, but was called off in the last moment. Biju got wind of the scheduled meeting, and on his advice, Charan Singh arm-twisted MGR, threatening to drop two of MGR’s Cabinet Ministers from the Government.
The confused MGR cancelled his Delhi trip and did not meet Indira. At this juncture, Biju entered the scene. He made an impossible plan of merging the two Dravidian parties- the DMK and the AIADMK. Biju had a very good rapport with Karunanidhi, especially following DMK's nation-wide movement for State autonomy vis-a-vis Centre-State relations in the early 1970s.
On September 11, Biju asked for an appointment with Karunanidhi to discuss an important issue. The next day he landed at Madras and met him at his residence. Karunanidhi recalled that when he asked Patnaik whose idea it was of merging the DMK and AIADMK, Patnaik replied that it was MGR’s. It was only years later that Karunanidhi came to know that Biju played the same game with MGR. He had told him that it was Karunanidhi’s idea!
Karunanidhi writes, "Biju came on September 12, 1979 and discussed the merger issue with me in detail. After the discussion, I had put a few conditions for the merger. We had accepted MGR to continue as Chief Minister. MGR had okayed the merger formula wherein the unified party would be named DMK and the ADMK flag retained."
In what seemed a win-win situation for both the parties, Karunanidhi agreed to MGR continuing as Chief Minister. In lieu, Karunanidhi would be party president for life. The contentious issue of retaining the DMK name was resolved, with the concession that the AIADMK flag would be the party ensign. Besides, the DMK had properties and buildings in various places all over Tamil Nadu, and it was also the party founded by Anna. Hence the name DMK would continue.
Biju was elated since he had expected much tougher terms for what seemed impossible. In fact, Karunanidhi writes that a very happy Biju hugged him after he gave his consent. Biju arranged for a meeting between the chiefs of the two parties at the Chepauk Guest House the next day. Both MGR and Karunanidhi had a one-on-one meeting in a separate room, while Biju and the top brass of both the parties comprising DMK general secretary Prof K Anbazhagan and AIADMK's Nedunchezhian and Panruti Ramachandran met in the sidelines.
Following the meeting, the two sides agreed to the conditions, and the leaders decided to convene emergency executive council meetings of their respective parties to pass resolutions on the merger. It was decided that MGR would convene a meeting of the executive council of his party near Vellore the next day and that Karunanidhi would conduct a similar exercise in Chennai. Media reports of Biju ’s involvement in the merger spread like wildfire.
He quietly flew back to Delhi, with hopes of having succeeded in scuttling the Congress’s plan. When reporters asked Kalaignar he said,
“What is wrong in the merger of DMK and ADMKij” However, the next day, at a public meeting in Vellore, MGR surprisingly did not speak about the merger and instead his Ministers lashed out at the DMK. The DMK leaders too started airing their dissent. Speaking to the media, Kalaignar blamed the AIADMK.
He said, “No follow up actions on other side. I think the poll alliances of the two parties will be different.” After Vellore, it was the end of the road for the merger and talks did not continue. For Biju, it was a failed attempt to put a check on the Congress rising. He just shrugged off the incident as another unsuccessful venture.
(The writer is a historian)