The years that saw two Dravidian majors becoming Tamil Nadu’s principal players

The decade starting from 1967 marked a pivotal period for Tamil Nadu, as it witnessed the rise of two significant Dravidian parties: the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

Since 1977, the two parties have remained dominant in the State’s political landscape, solidifying their positions as the primary players in the political arena.

In the 1967 Lok Sabha election held in the State along with the Assembly poll, the DMKled United Front (UF), consisting of Swatantra, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Muslim League, took on the then ruling Congress. Interestingly, DMK founder C.N. Annadurai, who tasted defeat in Kancheepuram in the 1962 Assembly election, preferred to contest from the South Madras Lok Sabha constituency five years later, despite being the head of the DMK and the front. Even though he won, he quit the MP post to become the first nonCongress Chief Minister of the State, postIndependence.

In the Lok Sabha election, the UF bagged 35 seats, of which the DMK secured 25, Swatantra six and the CPI(M) four. The Congress could get only three — Nagapattinam, Tenkasi and Nagercoil (now called Kanniyakumari) — with most of its prominent faces, C. Subramaniam and R. Venkataraman (Thanjavur) biting the dust.

Even though the Congress, at the allIndia level, scraped through in 1967 and formed a government with a slender majority, it experienced a huge split two years later. The party had witnessed a vertical split — the Congress (Requisitionists or Ruling) and the Congress (Organisation). Former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj, who was one of those responsible for Indira Gandhi becoming Prime Minister in 1966 and 1967, found himself with her critics. With this development, the alignments changed in the State, too. The DMK became a friend of the Congress (R). Meanwhile, in 1969, M. Karunanidhi became Chief Minister following the death of Annadurai. In March 1971, the country faced snap polls.

While the DMK won in 23 constituencies in the State, its major partner, Congress (R), captured nine, and another partner, the CPI, secured four. The Forward Bloc and the Muslim League netted one each. An interesting feature was the narrow margin of difference in the erstwhile Tiruchendur Lok Sabha constituency with which M.S. Sivasamy of the DMK was declared elected, defeating M. Mathias of Swatantra by 26 votes.

The election also saw two longstanding rivals in Tamil Nadu politics — Kamaraj and C. Rajagopalachari or Rajaji — coming together. Their parties, Congress (O) and Swatantra, faced the election along with the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP). Kamaraj was the solitary winner of the Opposition, and he was elected from Nagercoil.

The following years saw many events in the State, including the dramatic split in the DMK. In October 1972, the DMK’s treasurer and seasoned film actor, M.G. Ramachandran, broke away from the party to establish the AIADMK. Both Rajaji (1972) and Kamaraj (1975) passed away, turning the political field into a direct battleground between Karunanidhi and MGR. Even when Kamaraj was alive, the AIADMK had registered electoral success in the Dindigul Lok Sabha bypoll in May 1973. The Emergency years witnessed the DMK turning a bitter critic of the Congress. In January 1976, the Karunanidhiled DMK Ministry was dismissed and the State Assembly dissolved. The following month, a faction in the Congress (O), led by G.K. Moopanar, merged with the Congress, led by Indira Gandhi.

Naturally, the AIADMK and the Congress became allies in the 1977 Lok Sabha election. The Janata Party, an amalgam of many Opposition parties including the Congress (O), Bharatiya Lok Dal, Jan Sangh and the Socialists, came into being for all practical purposes ahead of the poll, but its nominees were fielded on the symbol of the Congress (O) in Tamil Nadu. The AIADMKCongress combine, along with the CPI, swept the State with 35 seats. Both C. Subramaniam and R. Venkataraman emerged victorious this time from Pollachi and South Madras. The remaining four seats were shared by the Congress (O) and its ally, the DMK, with the former bagging three and the latter one. The CPI(M), which had aligned itself with the Congress (O) and the DMK, drew a blank.