‘For several decades,’ I wrote recently in another context, Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924–2018), ‘was political India’s senior-most statesman, one of its consequential figures, with a legendary reputation for versatility, political resilience, legislative acumen and administrative capacity, lifelong literary and cultural engagement, emotional intelligence, empathy with the socially and educationally backward, and fighting spirit.’ I don’t believe anyone who is not determinedly antagonistic on ideological, personal or purely subjective grounds to the man and the causes he stood for will have much to cavil about this assessment. The facts speak for themselves.
Karunanidhi’s political career, beginning nine years before India attained independence, stretched over eight decades. No one else in independent India has led his or her party for as long as he did: he became the leader and symbol of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam following the death of C.N. Annadurai in February 1969 and remained leader, despite his declining and then failing health, until his death in August 2018.
Ever the organization man, he worked tirelessly to help build a cadre-based party as part of a social movement. It was this work ethic, supported by a well-structured organizational base and a consultative style of leadership (which must not be confused with collective leadership), that enabled the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to sustain itself over seven decades as a live, robust and impactful player in state and national politics.
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