The Hindu sunday magazine has an article by Ramachandra Guha on K. Kamaraj (1903-1975), the politician from Tamil Nadu. Kamaraj was instrumental in overseeing the prime ministership pass from Nehru to Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964) and Indira Gandhi (1966). He was a member of the ‘syndicate,’ a group of powerful regional Congress party leaders who had ambitions of being power brokers at the national level. Even though most history books remember him in the role of kingmaker, Kamaraj was much more than that, he seems to have been an able organizer and administrator and was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for thirteen years. He had a reputation for honesty (a rarity among politicians). One of the signs of his incorruptibility was the fact that he had never married, something that was often cited in the case of Vajpayee as well. I suppose the logic is that if you don’t have a family, why would you need to be corrupt? And being single is a sign of celibacy, which is saintly and good. Quite the opposite in the US, where if you are not married, it means you are gay which seems to be an anathema for most politicians, gay-friendly or otherwise, exceptions for folks like Barney Frank.
There is a very hagiographic website devoted to Kamaraj, which has some great photographs from his early life.
Mar 01, 2006 @ 13:10:50
Thanks Shaswati,
I am happy that someone like you has put this in your blog,
KING MAKER KAMARAJ
I come from this great person’s family. His mother used to stay at times in my grandmother’s place in Madras, and she used to ask my grandmother(Kamaraj’s cousin sister’s daughter) to ask Kamaraj for some extra money and benefits for her and for her daughter’s family(Kamaraj’s own sister), you can imagine the state of his family, Kamaraj had even made sure that no pricey gifts or utilities to be provided to his family by any politically motivated person. Kamaraj and Kamaraj’s immediate family had never missused his power for money or any extra benefits.
Kamaraj was not for any recommedations he was always for merit. A man who was so selfless and fair, with the heart to only govern people and not loot them, unlike today’s politicians and their families benefitting and looting people’s money. You can imagine from where SUN TV or JAYA TV comes from? Whose money is it? Where did this money come from? How does the children and the immediate family of these political party leaders become ministers, central ministers?
We have had ministers with 3 official wives with children and many unofficial wives with children, We have had politicians who dont follow any family planning themselves like some politicians, we have had politicians just by the sheer family tree but no formal political experience, we have had politicians, we have had divorcees at 45s and 70s who remarried and still became ministers and leaders, we have had politicians who were associated with religious fundamentalists, we have had ministers from anti national families as well.We have had politicians who were womanizers caught in sex scandal, We have had politicians who were murderers and mass murderers. We basically have had ministers from all strata of society for all the wrong reasons.
Show me one party leader today and scrutinize the family assets, you will find that they would have amassed wealth for the next 3 generations to survive.
The attributes of today’s politician’s MONEY!!!, Fake PATRIOTISM, GOONDAS, and TERORISTS, SECTARIANS,FUNDAMENTALISTS,CINE GLAMOUR CLOWNS.
Kamaraj was not for any Idolization of his image, He was a MAN! and he knew that unlike others, who cannot come clean if questioned.
Can anyone enter politics today without expecting to better their own personal life, assets, popularity, and power?
A person who was a kingmaker, a Chief minister stepped down from power volutarily, who would do that in today’s politics?
When he was offered the post of a Prime Minister after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, he bluntly refused since he beleived a more educated person could only govern and represent India in the world arena, who would do that today?
People call him or associate him with a caste, He was for the upbringing of the downtrodden at the same time not for any cheap stunts against any upper caste, he was a true gandhian and didnt believe in caste systems at all.
I have my grandmother, who if given an opportunity would narrate instances to you as if it is happening to you infront of you. It was she who told me how great this man was.
I have not found a political personality in real life that has stood for a cause and lived the whole life selfless all through( Bachelor, No Assets, No Women, Nonviolence, No goondas, but just sincereity).
I am hoping that there will be someday when we have someone like Kamaraj governing us again and for this to happen, we need someone with that desire to serve better, who has done all the qualifiers well(Good Socio-Economic knowledge, Good Philanthropist, Good Philosopher, Good Upbringing, Disciplined, A person who beleives in his actions more than his own looks or dressing. Remeber Glamor is skin deep!, Action is nerve deep!).
We need someone with Non rusting nerves! to be the person of Action! ‘Our Minister’
Kamaraj is surely in World History as one of the finest political leaders.
Mar 23, 2006 @ 16:16:21
Hi, I have been writing a blog about Kamaraj. It’s kamaraj101.blogspot.com, Please visit on your free time. Thanks.
May 21, 2006 @ 10:49:56
late.kamaraj nadar was one of the most brilliant politician and a very humble man.it is very difficult to find a man like him.
Apr 16, 2007 @ 10:22:14
Hi,
Its great to see people talk of K.Kamaraj in the age of fake heros like Rajnikant and vijay(are popular than K.K).
During his rule he built irrigational dams numbering more than 10. I had the previllege of seeing a couple of that dams. One such dam built during 60′s to store 5 tmcft was built ata cost of Rs. 3.65 crores. looking at the terrain on which it was built was still amazing.
After that no CM had the vision to build any irrigational dams and if at all they do, cost would be of thousands of crores.
This is the secret that during KK’s rule the country flourished an still people talk about him.
Let’s all pray that we have another leader like KK in our living years
Thank you
May 24, 2007 @ 06:02:04
To understand all about Perunthalaivar Kamaraj K, you can visit http://www.perunthalaivar.org, a website dedicated to Kamaraj.
Jun 01, 2007 @ 10:46:14
Kamaraj – A Noble Political stonemason
In the beginning of the 20th century, the vast majority of the Nadar community were suppoters of Self Respect Movement, parties supproting the downtrodden and suppressed Nadar community under the leadership ofWPA. Soundarapandian : the first President of Thandai Periyar’s `Suya Mariyadai Iyakkam’. It’s not without reason that the ’self-respect movement’ of the Justice Party and Dravidian parties succeeded in Tamil Nadu,and its various manifestations ruled the roost at the height of the socio-political churning of the society.
The nawab of Arcot giving away revenue collection rights to the British East India Company in the mid-eighteenth century meant that a region with no great kings or kingdoms came under the British rule. And along the way, jobs-on-merit at the hands of the alien ruler meant equal opportunity for equal talents in a race for the survival of the fittest.
If the need for societal spread made the non-brahmin movement adopt education and employment as its `equaliser-slogans’, the attainment of this goal, first with the formation of the Justice Party and more so with that party’s coming to power in the 1919 elections, made the movement itself near-redundant. The Communal G O of 1921 and its later-day modifications, all formalising and legitimising the non- brahmin movement’s demands for reservations in education and employment, benefited only the non-brahmin upper castes initially.
The intermediary castes and the harijans, the later-day backwardsand the scheduled castes respectively — to whom education and hence, non-farming, formal employment — were alien, were left mostly untouched.
It was thus left to `Periyar’ E V Ramaswami Naicker to take the non-brahmin movement to the masses, a decade and a half after Gandhi had succeeded in doing so with the Congress movement.
If the Justice Party could fill the political vacuum and use its own presence to ensure equality in education and employment for the non-brahmin upper castes, `Periyar’ necessarily had to demythify the social status of the brahmins drawn mainly from religious edicts.
Once the `brahmin question’ was settled, then naturally came the divisions within the non-brahmin segments.
The `Periyar factor’ and the post-Independence socio-economic reforms, particularly during the chief ministership of the late K Kamaraj has since ensured the spread of education to all social grades, economic well-being and consequent social awareness among the lower strata of the non- brahmin segments
Later with the influence and charisma of Kamaraj, even his own community in South Tamilnadu began to switch over from Self-Respect Movement to enmass support to Congress movement in the late stages of freedom struggle and then during Congress Rule in the state.
The evolution of Legendry Mass Leader of Poor:
K. Kamaraj was humble and poor in a backward area . He belonged to one of the most depressed castes of Hindu society. His schooling lasted only six years. He was barely fifteen when he heard of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre which was the turning point in his life.
Kamaraj became an able organiser in mobilizing people for public meetings addressed by patriots. Appreciating his skill, Satyamurthi took him under his fold.
He worked hard for the cause of the freedom movement, unmindful of his personal comfort or career.
He was eighteen when he responded to the call of Gandhiji for non-cooperation with the British. He carried on propaganda in the villages, raised funds for Congress work and took a leading part in organising meetings.
A pre-Independence party like the Congress which had nothing to offer to its cadres exceptsuffering and imprisonment under the British rule, became the home for Kamaraj. In April 1930, Kamaraj joined the Salt Satyagraha Movement at Vedaranyam and he spent most of his youth in jail.
He grew fond of books and through nteractions with intellectuals in prison Kamaraj developed his leadership skills that proved a valuable asset to him as an administrator in later years of his life.
Kamaraj was elected President of the Tamilnad Congress Committee in February 1940. He held that post till 1954. He was also elected to the Constituent Assembly of India in 1946, and later to Parliament in 1952.
On 30 March 1954, Kamaraj took up as the new chief minister of Madras State (today’s Tamil Nadu) supplanted C Rajagopalachari (1879-1972), the intellectual Brahmin nationalist and last governor general of India.
The Legendry unselfish noble statesman
During his tenure as Chief Minister, Kamaraj was as corpulent and rustic as Rajagopalachari was ascetic and urbane though Kamaraj knew little English since he had left school as a boy.
This transition from one highly educated leader namely Rajaji to another humble and lowly educated Kamarj suggested that India’s encounter with democracy might be more than a flirtation. But what turned out to be other way was the Golden Socio-politcal progress for entire Tamilnadu under the ruling period of Kamaraj. But Kamaraj was not in high position as Chief Minister of Tamilnadu in easy environment, which was infact very turbulent due to certain section of people taking up anti-Hindi agitations and Dravidian Movement as the main agenda to tackle Congress Government.
To compare the situation of the conditions of then Madaras state, in contrast, as it happened, a democratic endeavour came apart within weeks in neighbouring Pakistan. In East Pakistan (today’s Bangladesh), the aged AK Fazlul Huq led a united front to a big victory in provincial elections in March. He formed a government that lasted only two months before its secessionist-sounding rhetoric provoked its dis-missal by the central government in West Pakistan.
The situation in South India (espeically Madaras state) was different, but the social and linguistic diversity out of which Kamaraj rose had some similarities.
Though the Congress Party had not done well in Madras in the general elections of 1951-2. Rajagopalachari was able to form a government only with the support of independents and smaller parties.
In addition, a resilient Dravidiant movement which is basically anti-north, anti-upper caste, anti-Hindi movement campaigned for local autonomy or even a separate governing state, ill defined but possibly extending even to complete independence from Indian subcontinent.
If Pakistan, why not Dravidistan (land of the southern peoples),was the question raised by few followers & supporters of Dravidian Movement which were essentially offshoot of Self-Respect Movement & Dravida Kazhagam started by E.V.R.Periyar. “A `battle for religion’ is on in Tamil Nad as then the Times of India reported, conoclasts relentlessly preaching godlessness and godfearing people urging … the need for piety and faith The din of this verbal “jehad” is heard even in the remote corners of the city [of Madras] as scores of lectures … are held daily at every available maidan or public auditorium either to denounce God or sing His praise. The provocateur was EV Ramaswami Naicker, who had founded the Dravadi Kazhagam with the main focus of anti-Brahmin or anit-Aryan organisation.
In the face of above background in then Madaras Presidency, the rise of Kamaraj as a from-the son-of-the-soil leader, who “mobilized the masses” and renewed the roots of the Congress in the Tamil areas. He could easily suppress anti-Hindi feelings and anti-upper community movement with projection for mass educational programme and irrigational plans for every village of Tamilnadu, Kamaraj won two elections, held the chief minister-ship for nine years and became president of the Congress Party and the maker of two prime ministers after Nehru’s death.
Keeping pace with Nehru’s visionary efforts at the national level,Kamaraj was instrumental in building many irrigation dams, linking the villages by all-weather roads and constructing hospitals in remote places. Today he is talked about for making primary education completely free.
In fact, he felt that a major part of his life’s mission was fulfilled by this one act. Kamraj had also introduced themid-day meal scheme for the poor students at school. It helped arrest dropouts. It is now being replicated at the national level.
But when he left Tamil politics to become president of the Congress Party in 1963, the Congress lost its base in society. After Kamaraj, the Congress did not win a state election again in Tamil Nadu.
Dravida Kazhagam, that went on, in muted form after his ejection, to displace the Congress as the government of Tamil Nadu in 1967.
One can observe the plain speaking Kamarj as a political stone mason, tapping away at a piece of rock, listening and feeling for ways that it will slice or split. No one can ever eqaual the charisma of Kamaraj among the poor masses.
The saga of beneficiaries post- Kamaraj period in tamilnadu continue to be limited to previleged and high profiled personalities connected to business and film industries and no son-of-the-soil leader from Tamil country of subsequent generation, has the capacity and capability to “mobilize the poor masses” in the right socio-political direction.
Shri Kumarasamy Kamaraj who rejected the idea of entering into family to serve the people through political system of India in pre and post Independance era remained a high integrity personality in his lifetime without counting a penny. In the history of political world, no world leader can match to this noble statemanship of Kamaraj. The Tamil community cannot dream of one more political leader to the selfless stature of Kamaraj arising from the state in the near future.
Later even when Kamaraj had to lose his political power in TamilNadu and sit in the opposition, he still remained a respected national figure both among his colleagues and opponents. Kamaraj died of a massive heart attack on October 02,1975. But the one that came from Justice Krishna Iyer said it all: “A common man’s man with an uncommon common sense”.
Sep 09, 2007 @ 02:09:51
Medical college in Kamaraj’s memory proposed
“Efforts on to identify land of about 150 acres”
Project estimated to cost Rs. 150 crore
It may start admission from August 2009
MADURAI: In an attempt to cater to the medical needs of the people and meet the growing demand for medical studies, the newly-established Kamaraj Memorial Medical Education and Research Trust has proposed to start Kamaraj Memorial Medical College here in two years’ time, according to its Chairman V. Pugalagiri.
Briefing mediapersons here on Saturday, Dr. Pugalagiri said that it was decided to start a college with strength of 150 seats after the members of the Madurai Kamudhi Nadars’ Sangam evinced keen interest in the project.
He said that efforts were on to identify a suitable land of about 150 acres within 20 km from the city, where concentration of villages was more with adequate transport facilities.
All norms of the Medical Council of India (MCI) would be followed, he added.
According to the MCI, presence of a 300-bed hospital, to offer medical services to the rural people, was a must before starting a college, for which even a 25 to 30-acre land would suffice, but the trust, with a long-term perspective, had planned to establish it in 150 acres, Dr. Pugalagiri said.
K. Ramachandran, executive president, Madurai Kamudhi Nadars’ Sangam, said that funds for this project, which was estimated to cost Rs.150 crore, would be mobilised from philanthropists, like-minded individuals and non-resident Indians.
If things moved in the right direction, the college would start its admission from August 2009, he added.
Since the project was a non-profit attempt and could not take off without the support from members of fellow associations, a meeting of all office-bearers and members of all Nadar associations would be convened on July 15 to seek the same, said Dr. Pugalagiri.
Apr 21, 2009 @ 15:49:09
kamaraj was the C.M for nine and a half years.please correct it in your article.
with thanks
kaliraja thangamani
Apr 22, 2009 @ 16:54:24
Thank you for that bit of information Kaliraja
Dec 01, 2010 @ 02:30:14
Hi I am looking get a copy of the movie “Kingmaker Kamaraj”. Do you know where I can find it?
Dec 01, 2010 @ 14:18:47
No idea. I’d be interested too.
Feb 27, 2011 @ 06:22:23
Dear Kingmaker Kamaraj
Never we can’t get one more Kingmaker Kamaraj,thanks for he is mother
Regards.,
Mohamed