Chief Minister of TamilNadu, Politician, Writer and Teacher
Birth
Anna (C. N. Annadurai ) was born in a middle-class family to Natarajan and Bangaru Ammal on 15th September 1909 in Kanchipuram. His father was a weaver.
Personal life (C.N Annadurai family)
Anna married Rani, while he was studying in the College at the age of 21. Annadurai was brought up by his elder sister Rajamani Ammal. Since the couple had no children, they adopted Rajamani Ammal’s grandchildren. His foster children were Ilangovan , Gouthaman, Rajendran and Parimalam.
Early Life of Anna
Anna went to Pachaiyappa’s High School and later left the school because of the family’s financial situation. He made the work as a clerk in the Municipal Office in his town.
Education
He got the B.A degree (Hons) in the Pachaiyappa’s College in Chennai in 1934. From the same college, he got the MA degree in Economics and Politics. After the completion of his degree, he joined as an English Teacher in the Pachaiyappa High School. Then he left the job to engage himself in the politics.
Annadurai Political Career
Anna joined the Justice Party in 1935, which was the beginning of his political career. At this time of his joining, Periyar was the President of the Justice party. This Justice Party came into power in the Madras Presidency and held the power from 1920 to 1937 till the Indian National Congress in 1937.Anna became the sub-editor of the Justice magazine and then became the editor of the Viduthalai(Freedom in English).Also he had the link with the Tamil weekly paper Kudi Arasu. Later, he bagan his own journal with the name “Dravida Nadu”.
Anna’s participation in Anti-Hindi conference
In 1928, Hindi was chosen as the official language in India, under the Motilal Nehru. For which the politicians and people in TamilNadu made the opposition.
When C.Rajagopalachari made the Hindi language as mandatory in schools of TamilNadu in 1938, many Tamil leaders opposed this move. Anna made demonstrations and took part in the first Anti Hindi imposition conference on 27th February 1938 at Kancheepuram. In this protest, two of the members were dead as the police beat them. Since the increase of this opposition, the Government of Madras presidency to take back the order in 1940.
Separation from DK(Dravida Kazhagam)
Periyar believed that Independence of India would make the Brahmins and North Indians dominant over the South Indians especially the Tamils. So, Periyar called the Independence Day as the Mourning day. Anna and few of the DK supporters were against this reaction of Periyar. Later, Anna made the objection towards the Periyar’s idea to give up the participation in elections. Thus, Anna left the Periyar’s Dravida Kazhagam (Justice Party) in 1948.
Birth of DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)
Anna made the initiation for a new party along with the Periyar’s nephew E.V.K.Sampath on 17th September 1949. They named the new party as Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK). At the time of the foundation of this party, the other leaders of this Party were V.R Neduncheziyan, K.A Mathiazhagan and N.V. Natarajan. Anna fought for the rights of the lower castes, for which he got the huge support and that lead to the growth of his party.
1953 Strike
Anna and his party DMK made three strikes in 1953. In this, he made the opposition against Jawaharlal Nehru for mentioning the DK and DMK activists as “childish nonsense” for discoloring the Hindi letters in railway stations. Then he gave the strong opposition to the then Chief Minister of Madras State C.Rajagopalachari for setting up the new caste based educational system called “Kula Kalvi Thittam”. He also made a protest against the renaming of Kallakudi as Dalmiyapuram which was the depiction of the North Indian domination. For this, he was imprisoned for three months jail.
Thought for a separate homeland
After some internal controversies, E.V.K.Sampath left the DMK to start a new party. In 1962, Annadurai thought that Dravidians must need the right of self-determination and have the separate country.
Then the reorganization of the states in India, lead to the separation of the Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu regions from the Tamil Madras state. According to the sixteenth Amendment, none of the sectarian principles based party will be able to take part in the elections. Anna was the member, during the presentation of this Amendment in the Indian Parliament. He opposed this Amendment, but he was unable to stop passing of that Amendment. On seeing the changes in the constitution, Anna and his party DMK made a call for the independent Tamil state. Anna and his party had a focus to gain better bonding with the southern states with more freedom for TamilNadu.
1965 Anti-Hindi Protests
After fifteen years of Indian republic, Hindi was to get the special status in1965, which gave the disappointment to the students of TamilNadu. Then Anna and his party kept a conference opposing the Hindi imposition in August 1960 at Chennai Kodambakkam. Following this, Anna gave the black flags to the Party’s leading members to show them against the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the time of Nehru’s state visit. In responding to this protest, Nehru made the confirmation that English will continue as the official language till the non-Hindi speaking people wish. Then DMK withdrew the plan to show black flags. But Anna declared the Republic day on 26th January 1965 as a day of mourning, since no proper amendment was done on this issue. This act of Anna was opposed by then Chief Minister Bhakthavatchalam and thought this would make the partition among his followers. So, Bhakthavatchalam made the declaration that 24th January would be the mourning day.
Later the violence broke out in Madurai, then Anna told the students to stop their participation. Anna was arrested, claiming that he was the cause behind the protest and its induction. Later this event lead to the DMK victory in the elections, after which Anna became the Chief Minister of TamilNadu.
Anna as Chief Minister
In 1967, Madras legislative assembly elections took place in which the DMK party of Anna won the elections defeating the Congress. On winning the elections, Annadurai with the huge support from the people of TamilNadu, became the Chief Minister of TamilNadu. For this election victory, Anna became the first to give the subsidy price for the rice. Anna officially renamed the Madras State to “TamilNadu” during his tenure. Anna was the first one to authorize the Self-respect marriages in the country. In 1967, he took the key role to set up the World Tamil Conference under the UNESCO. He was the one to introduce two language policy while other South Indian states were following the three- language strategy.
Other works of Anna
Anna was one of the best Tamil orators at his time. He uses the attractive metaphors and alliterations in his public speech. He acted in a few of the plays. Then he had published many short stories, plays and novels on political themes. He used the media for Dravidian politics. His famous books are Annavi Sattasabai, Llatchiya Varalaru, Valkkaip puyal and Rankon rata. Then his fiction work includes the Kalinga Rani, Parvathy B.A and Kapothipura Kathal..
Honors
In the year 1968, he was the first non-American invitee and guest of the Chubb Fellowship programme at Yale University. He got the honorary doctorate from the Annamalai University.
The well-known University of science and Technology was named after him as “Anna University”. The renaming of the major road Mount Road as “Anna Salai” in Chennai was made after him. Later the establishment of the Anna Centenary Library was made in remembrance of him in the year 1987.
C.N Annadurai Death
C.N.Annadurai went to NewYork for Cancer treatment on 10th September1968. He went to address many official functions ignoring the medical advice. On 3rd February 1969, he died due to the decline in his health condition. At his funeral, large of people and personalities made the visit, which was entered into the The Guinness Book of Records.