Illustration: R Manikantan.
Kumarasamy Kamaraj was one of the most respected chief ministers of independent India, stewarding his home state Madras (now Tamil Nadu) from 1954 to 1963. He was a Congressman and Gandhian who played a vital role in India’s freedom struggle. A devout patriot, he was also a skilful administrator who pioneered the concept of free education for all. His mostly behind-thescenes work as a unifier of disparate forces in the Congress party to ensure smooth succession after the Jawaharlal Nehru era earned him the sobriquet of ‘king maker’ and a reputation as shrewd but selfless party man with the nation’s best interests at heart.
Kamaraj became a national figure in independent India when, during the final years of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s tenure, his Kamaraj Plan paved the way for young blood to be inducted into the Union cabinet, with senior ministers voluntarily stepping down to rejuvenate the party and the administration. He was also instrumental in projecting Indira Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate to take over from Lal Bahadur Shastri, who succeeded Nehru, but died in harness. Kamaraj was a disillusioned man when Mrs Gandhi declared an emergency in 1975 and very nearly brought about the end of Indian democracy. Kamaraj died in 1975 and his integrity and lifelong service to the nation posthumously earned him the highest civilian award of Bharat Ratna.
Kamaraj was born to parents of modest means
belonging to the trading class, Kumarasamy and Sivakami Ammal, on 15 July 1903 in the small town of Virudupatti, now known as Virudunagar, in Tamil Nadu. Educated in the humblest of schools, Kamaraj quit studies when barely 12, joining the freedom movement and attending Congress party meetings at Virudupatti, where he listened in rapt attention to speeches by the leaders of the day. Responding to a satyagraha call by Mahatma Gandhi to protest against the Rowlatt Act on April 6, 1919, Kamaraj decided to take the plunge into politics and became a full time Congress worker. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar was to make a deep impression on him, and he vowed to play his part in ending British rule in India.
Once in the Tamil Nadu Congress, Kamaraj played an active role in mobilizing public support for Congress and spreading awareness of the party’s ideals, conducting meetings at several villages and towns to sow the seed of patriotism in the minds of the people, and promoting ‘khadi’ or homespun cotton. He took part in the demonstrations against the Simon Commission (1928) and the salt satyagraha (1930) masterminded by Gandhi, getting arrested for the first time. Incarcerated at the Alipore Jail, he was greeted by huge crowds when he was released from prison in 1931.
Kamaraj was nominated as the President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Party in 1940. In 1942, along with other leaders including his mentor S Satyamurti, Muthuranga Mudaliar and M Bhaktavatsalam (who succeeded him as Chief Minister of Madras), Kamaraj attended the Indian National Congress Conference presided over by Moulana Abul Kalam Azad at Mumbai, when the Quit India movement was launched. Soon after the conference, the British Government arrested all the Indian leaders including Kamaraj. In all, Kamaraj spent some 3,000 days in prison in his political career.
Kamaraj became Chief Minister of Madras in 1954 and remained so till 1963, when he resigned to concentrate on party work. This was the golden period of Tamil Nadu, when the state’s industrialisation received a forceful thrust.
Kamaraj discharged his duties with utmost sincerity and shrewd native intelligence. He was the epitome of Gandhian simplicity and always
wore a typically three-quarter sleeved white khadi shirt and khadi dhoti. Tall and wellbuilt, he was a towering figure wherever he went, but his demeanour was always down-to-earth. He was a plain speaking man, and his favourite one-liner was ‘Agattum, parkalam’, which meant roughly “Let’s see what can be done.” He was a patient listener and accessible to the common man, who could approach him with his problems. He often solved these problems with seeming effortlessness. He was an affectionate friend but scrupulously kept family and friends out when it came to handing out benefits. These were reserved for the poor and the underprivileged. To the very end, he led a simple life and never acquired any property. Devoted to his mother, he gave her the care of a dutiful son, but she too was a stranger to luxury.
Kamaraj was responsible for some pioneering welfare measures in the state. He introduced free school education for the poor and introduced the mid-daymeal scheme at all state-run schools, a revolutionary measure expanded and made famous by the matinee idol turned Chief Minister M G Ramachandran years later. Kamaraj was instrumental in starting over 10,000 elementary schools in Tamil Nadu.
When Jawaharlal Nehru died in 1964, the question, “After Nehru, Who?’ loomed large. Kamaraj was instrumental in Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeding Nehru as Prime Minister of India. Though Shastri died in office, he made a huge impact in his brief tenure and signed a historic accord with the USSR at Tashkent, where he died unexpectedly.
In 1966, Kamaraj visited Moscow at the invitation of the Russian Premier and also toured East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. He was a huge draw everywhere with his simple and endearing ways.
Even though Kamaraj more or less retired from active politics during the Emergency, he worked tirelessly for the welfare of the people till the end. He passed away on Gandhi Jayanti day, on 2nd October 1975. It was a day of great sorrow and millions of Indians paid homage to this simple karma yogi of Indian politics.