DMK came to power in 1967 by using Anti-Hindi, Anti-God, Anti-Hindu, Anti-Brahmin politics and politics of disfiguring the Tamil identity with Dravidian tag. CN Annadurai became the first DMK Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
Anna was in the office only for two years and Anna held the government free of corruption and retained his integrity and honesty in public life. However things have changed rapidly due to his untimely death. The first allegation of corruption against DMK was made not by the opposition parties but by the treasurer of the DMK– MG Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR. MGR had asked for the details of poll expenses which M Karunanidhi refused to give citing such disclosure may unnecessarily expose the names of those who offered donation and most of such donations may be ill-gotten, tax evaded money. This argument was well supported by EV Ramasamy Naicker in his speech.
Subsequent to the smelling of rat and something was rotten in Denmark, MGR who is known for his personal honesty and commitment for uplifting poor, left DMK and in 1972 founded a new political party called Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK). Then MGR submitted a memorandum to the President of India to constitute a commission of enquiry into the charges of corruption against M Karunanidhi the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Further several cabinet members and district functionaries of DMK were also alleged to have involved in various corruptions.
The anti-corruption move got further momentum with the efforts of M Kalyanasundaram of Communist Party of India submitting similar request with President of India.
Indira Gandhi promulgated emergency when she was embroiled in corruption charges and in January 31 1976 DMK government was dismissed. Subsequently the Supreme Court Judge Ranjit Singh Sarkaria was appointed as one-man commission to enquire all the twenty-eight allegations of corruption and misuse of power by DMK and karunanidhi.
Sarkaria commission submitted its first report in March 1977 proving several charges of corruption were true and coined the term for Karunanidhi and his associates as “masters of scientific corruption”.
However the political unrest during and post emergency had drifted the focus of Indian politics more towards Indira Gandhi which saved DMK. Although DMK was the first political party in Tamil Nadu to institutionalize corruption in the state politics, but the congress was the first political party in India to undermine the anti-corruption mechanism in a systematic manner by burying the hard labour of justice Sarkaria.
UPA 1 and UPA 2 again saw the repeat of history where several scandals of national shame such as 2G, coal, CWG, Telecom, Aircell-Maxis etc., broke out.
Before 1967, the corruption was only remotely present in Tamil Nadu politics and had never reached the proportion where the party in government involved in institutionalizing corruption in a scientific manner by DMK and Karunanidhi as pointed out by Justice Sarkaria.
To the several decades of corruption rule in India, PM Modi put an end and saved India, brought the agenda of development to the centre stage, sab ka vikas become the theme and mission and regained the glory and reputation of India at international level.
But to destabilize the mission of clean India, one India and India with the agenda of development and sab ka vikas, the same old nexus is reviving its lost ground in Tamil Nadu.
MGR and then Amma placed the politics of dynasty and family rule in Tamil Nadu to the corner but the demise of Amma has shattered the state and is pegging for a great leader to lead.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi is although showing special care and attachments to the state and doing his best to lift the state but the divisive politics in the state in the name of Dravidian brand politics is confusing the people of the state and pushing them down to the narrow interest of regional politics, hate politics and politics of Dravidian identity.
Need of the day is to save the state from the ruing culture of dynastic politics and politics of negativism and hatred. A decisive leader like Narendra Modi is needed by the state and not divisive leader to play the same old Dravidian brand politics to retain the dynastic rule.
The bigger threat of the state is not corruption but development and ethos of one India. PM Modi at the helm at centre and Amma’s rule in the state are necessary for the state to progress. The way people of Tamil Nadu are coming back to divine worship and temple rituals, it looks like the state will not elect the party that promote hatred, anti-God, anti-Hindu, anti-Brahmin, anti-Hindi politics and politics that mask the true identity of Tamil with Dravidian tag to protect the dynastic rule.