While the Gopalapuram home is an old-world-style house with open gates and doors, the CIT Colony mansion was a fortress. Karunanidhi, even as chief minister, would spend his evenings at CIT Colony, Rajathi Ammal’s and Kanimozhi’s home, and his mornings at Gopalapuram, where his wife Dayalu Ammal lives.
As for the non-political heirs of Karunanidhi – daughter Selvi and son Tamilarasu – their relationship is, at best, an uneasy one. Although close to her step-brother Alagiri, there was never any love lost between her and MK Stalin. Kanimozhi was always the awkward child in the Karunanidhi family. And I am very grateful to both my parents for that,’ says Kanimozhi. But one thing it has taught me is to never stand in judgement of anybody. Today, Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha MP of the DMK, has managed to rise out of a situation of stigma and pain to become the Delhi face of the party. But Kanimozhi – meaning honeyed language in Tamil – bore the brunt of her father’s secret marriage to Rajathi Ammal. There was no further scandal or shaming left to be done after his utterance.Īt least not in public. She is the mother of my daughter Kanimozhi. ‘En magal Kanimozhiyin thaayaar,’ he said upon his return, according to the state assembly records. Karunanidhi, in a quandary, was taken aside by Anna, who advised him to spill the beans. ‘Who is Rajathi?’ asked a Congress MLA dramatically at the session. The state Assembly was the stage on which the attack took place. Karunanidhi was already married to Dayalu Ammal. When asked for the name of the father by the hospital, she told the truth – M Karunanidhi.Ĭongressmen found out and pounced on this information with glee. Meanwhile, a scandal awaited and it arrived in the form of Rajathi Ammal, who had given birth to a baby girl. The DMK had romped home to power under its leader CN Annadurai and a wounded Congress party had to have its revenge.
It was 1968 and Transport Minister Karunanidhi had set all tongues wagging.
Karunanidhi: A Life in Politics by Sandhya Ravishankar, published by HarperCollins India.Įdited excerpt from the chapter 'The Family Man' It is also a deeply personal account, from his family and numerous acquaintances, of the man behind India's most famous dark glasses, a patriarch, a person of letters and creative art, a thinker, a man of vision and tenderness, a politician who survived times that would have crushed others. Journalist Sandhya Ravishankar's book Karunanidhi: A Life in Politics is an intricately researched study of the ideology and times that made Karunanidhi the 'Kalaignar' of Tamil Nadu. He had been a pillar of Tamil Nadu's politics, a crucial part of the Dravidian movement, at the forefront of championing Tamil identity on the national stage, often caught in controversies, adored by his party cadres. DMK supremo M Karunanidhi passed away on 7 August.
0 kommentar(er)
