MGR Remembered – Part 81

A Major Stumble in the Jan 1980 Lok Sabha Election

by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 1, 2025

Regarding the contents in Part 80, I received the thoughts R. Kannan on March 4th. These were as follows:

“As usual, this a brilliant compendium of events from primary and secondary sources, showing your vast grasp of reading and preservation of archival matter. Some of the material cited was again new to me. Well done.

The 1979 period was difficult for MGR as Morarji, Charan Singh, and even Jagjivan Ram courted him if I am right…As always, very thoughtfully compiled Sachi. Looking forward to the next one.”

In reply, I accepted Kannan’s expressed sentiments.

 Specific datelines in late 1979

Aug 22: Lok Sabha was dissolved by the President Neelam Sanjiv Reddy and instructed new elections to be held during the first week of January 1980.

Aug 25: Central government minister C. Subramaniam was in Chennai and discussed with MGR on election contesting agreement.

Biju Patnaik in the middle between Karunanidhi and MGR, Sept 1979

Sept 6: MGR was in New Delhi. He was scheduled to meet Indira Gandhi, but this meeting was abandoned. MGR returned to Chennai, without meeting Indira. Central government minister Biju Patnaik in Charan Singh’s caretaker Cabinet talked with Karunanidhi on phone.

Sept 12: Biju Patnaik met Karunanidhi at latter’s house and discussed the merger issue between DMK and MGR’s Anna DMK parties. Karunanidhi provided 6 conditions for such merger.

Sept 13: MGR and Karunanidhi met in front of Biju Patnaik to discuss the merger issue. There were 3 others as well. K. Anbhazhagan (DMK) as well as V.R. Nedunchezhiyan and Panruti S. Ramachandran, on MGR’s side. MGR agreed to the merger and all the conditions presented by Karunanidhi.

Sept 14: At a public meeting held in Vellore, MGR did not say anything particular about the merger issue; and while MGR was in stage, his Cabinet ministers criticized DMK vehemently and delivered verbal attacks on Karunanidhi.

Sept 15: Karunanidhi, in the company of his confidants Thennarasu and Arcot Veerasamy, was in New Delhi to meet Indira Gandhi. He met her at her house, after 4 years. Congress Party leaders R. Venkataraman, R.V. Saminathan and C.M. Stephen also attended this meeting. After one hour discussion. C.M. Stephen announced to the reporters about an agreement between Indira Congress Party and DMK to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu. According to the agreement, while Congress Party will contest 22 constituencies plus the Pondicherry constituency, DMK will contest remaining 17 constituencies.

Sept 28: MGR visited New Delhi and met with Prime Minister Charan Singh.

Sept 30: Indira Gandhi visited Chennai and participated in a joint public meeting of DMK and Indira Congress Party. According to Karunanidhi, one million had gathered as audience. Speakers were: Ilayaperumal, R.V. Swaminathan, Karupiah Moopanar, Sivaji Ganesan (all from Congress Party), Abdul Samad, followed by Karunanidhi and Indira. Indira’s speech was translated by P. Chidambaram.

Oct 8: Janata Party leader Jayaprakash Narayan died in Patna.

Nov 29: Karunanidhi released the DMK party candidates (first list), for the Jan 1980 Lok Sabha elections at a public meeting held in Chennai.

Dec 1: Karunanidhi released the DMK party candidates (final list) for the Jan 1980 Lok Sabha elections at a special conference held in Salem.

Thuglak humor – circa late 1979

Dec 10: Indira Gandhi and Karunanidhi participated jointly at an election propaganda meeting, held in Mylapore, Chennai for supporting the candidacy of R. Venkataraman (Chennai South – Congress Party), Dr. Kalanithi (Chennai Central – DMK) and G. Lakshmanan (Chennai North – DMK). Indira’s speech in English was translated by Murasoli Maran in Tamil.

Dec 23: Mrs. Satyavani Muthu and Arvind Bala Pajanor, representing Anna DMK party submitted their resignations from Charan Singh caretaker Cabinet, as demanded by Charan Singh.

Dec 26-27: Indira Gandhi and Karunanidhi jointly canvassed for votes for Congress-DMK alliance from Chennai to Kanyakumari. They were accompanied in the car, with K.T. Kosalram (1915-1985) and Lakshmanan Elayaperummal (1924-2005) – both Congress Party’s Tamil Nadu leaders, the latter representing the Dalit (Untouchables) community, who had been a Lok Sabha MP for three times..

I provide three pre-election cartoons that depicted the Jan 1980 Lok Sabha elections. A verbal humor cartoon appeared in the Thuglak Tamil magazine, circa late 1979. The editor of this magazine was drama-cine comedian Cho Ramaswamy (1934-2016), a talented jack of all trades, who had built up a fan circle among middle class Tamilians as a critic of Indira Gandhi and Dravidian parties. He was partial to Janata Party, and considered Morarji Desai was one of the three ‘best Indian political leaders’ whom he had met.

Cho’s verbal humor in the cartoon is translated below: It was in the form of a cinema wall poster, more familiar to the Indian public.

‘May Arrive at Earliest! – PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTION (Russia color).

Producer: Treachery great Sanjeeva Reddy

Story and script: Position Ratna Charan Singh

Fight scenes: Problem Ornament Janata

Direction: Innocent Election Commisioner

Exciting Thrill scenes: Oceanic grade Exaggerator Indira Gandhi

Background music: Opportunist Communists

Baboon Raj Narain’s instant cross jumps, President’s dare ventures, Unexpected Janata twists…!

Every party joins in the Climax scene to apply coal to the Faces of Voters.

Headshots of President Sanjeeva Reddy, Prime Minister Charan Singh, Indira Gandhi and Raj Narain were featured in the poster. Among the four, only Indira’s mouth was open, while other three had closed their lips.”

R.K.Laxman cartoon – Jan 1980 Lok Sabha elections

Ace cartoonist R. K. Laxman’s visual cartoon depicted his alter-ego ‘the Common Man’ of India seated in a park bench, yawning and bored by the din of noise pollution generated by the political parties. Commenting 10 years later, about the performance of Janata party leaders, Laxman’s opinion was, ‘It almost seemed as if the new administrators were there solely to provide inspiration to the cartoonist. At some stage they even seemed to take over the job of the satirical cartoonist and render it in practical terms in the Common Man’s day-to-day existence!’

As for the Tamil Nadu scene, a cartoon that appeared in the Kalki weekly (Dec 16, 1979) presented the combined electoral propaganda of Indira and Karunanidhi, each praising the strength of other to their two party supporters identified with adulatory tags ‘Fellow sibling’ (DMK) and ‘slave’ (Congress). Karunanidhi says ‘check the Money wealth here, pointing to Indira’ and Indira says ‘check the word wealth here, pointing to Karunanidhi’. The two supporters looks confused ‘That’s OK, Where is voters’ mind.’

On the Troubled ‘Merger Issue’ of DMK and Anna DMK

As indicated above, in the first week of September 1979, the political air in New Delhi and Chennai was filled with the ‘Merger Issue’ of DMK and Anna DMK parties, with the then Steel Minister Biju Patnaik in the Charan Singh cabinet as the chief broker. Eventually that merger flopped. But, questions still remain about who initiated it? Was it Charan Singh, or was it MGR? And for what purpose? We do have Karunanidhi’s version, but don’t have MGR’s version, other than what had appeared in the print media.

Kalki cartoon, Dec 16, 1979

I present two versions here. One report appeared in the India Today of Oct 1, 1979. In this unsigned report, it was indicated that MGR ‘had written the script’, and the overall text was somewhat anti-MGR, and pro-Karunanidhi. It ended with a false prediction sentence – ‘The days of Ramachandran’s political hegemony are numbered.’ The second report appeared in the Illustrated Weekly of India, Dec 30, 1979. This appeared under the by-line of V.G. Prasad Rao. This second report indicates that it was Charan Singh idea, to keep Indira Gandhi gaining an upper hand and prevent her from collecting electoral gains in Tamil Nadu. For record, I provide both versions below.

An unsigned Report in India Today, Oct 1, 1979

“It had all the elements of an MGR extravaganza. Lots of suspense, intrigues and in-fighting. Only the end was different. Instead of the hero (MGR) rescuing the heroine in distress (Mrs. Indira Gandhi), the villain (M. Karunanidhi) walked off with the heroine, leaving the matinee idol of millions of film-goers in Tamil Nadu to lick his wounds. Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran’s cryptic comment on the outcome of the sordid drama was ‘Let the wicked go with the wicked; we shall align with the righteous’. Perhaps Ramachandran had forgotten that his All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) had all along been in league with the ‘wicked’ Congress (I). Or was it a case of sour grapes?

The first act of this consuming drama began in New Delhi on September 5 when the Tamil Nadu chief minister had gone there to discuss electoral understanding with Mrs Gandhi. But before meeting her, he thought of improving his bargaining power by calling on Prime Minister Charan Singh and the Janata Party leader Jagjivan Ram. Whatever transpired at his meeting with Charan Singh, it made Ramachandran, in the words of C.M. Stephen of the Congress (I), ‘tremble’ – an indication that he had too many skeletons in his cupboard. Thoroughly shaken up and confused, Ramachandran returned to Madras without meeting Mrs Gandhi. But before leaving Delhi, he had written a script, according to which the Union Steel Minister, Biju Patnaik, was to play the role of marriage-broker in Madras.

Ramachandran and his Janata (S) – Congress coalition partners had conspired that the best way to keep the Congress (I) out of the race in Tamil Nadu was to bring about a union of the DMK and AIADMK. Patnaik reached Madras on the 12^th and after preliminary talks with Karunanidhi and Ramachandran, arranged a meeting of the two Kazhagam leaders in the privacy of the VIP suite in the State Guest House on the 13^th – an unlucky date it is said. At this contrived meeting, Ramachandran gave full expression to his histrionic talents by acting the coy bride, shy and blushing. Karunanidhi was too shrewd a politician not to see through the game. His negotiations with the Congress (I) were in an advanced stage and all that was needed to clinch the issue was a face to face meeting with Mrs Gandhi, which was scheduled for the following day. Patnaik told leaders of the two Kazhagams that there unity would keep ‘political adventurers’ out of Tamil Nadu. It did not need any extra intelligence to see that the entire exercise was aimed at sabotaging the DMK-Congress (I) alliance.

That Ramachandran was not at all sincere about the merger and was only putting on an act became clearer when it was known that he was holding serious negotiations with Karuppiah Moopanar, Congress (I) leader in Tamil Nadu, at his Ramavaram residence, even as the stage was being set at the State Guest House for his meeting with Karunanidhi. In the 40 minutes he spent alone with Karunanidhi in a closed door meeting, he was a picture of compromise, conceding all the conditions put forward by the DMK leader. The same evening, M.G. Ramachandran hosted a dinner for the former Union Energy minister, P. Ramachandran, to explore AIADMK-Janaa poll prospects.

Hopping from one tree to another, clinging to any creeper to save a damsel in distress, may evoke applause on the silver screen. In real politics, as Ramachandran has learnt to his cost, party hopping in like manner does no pay. His credibility has touched a new low and no party worth its name is prepared to take him at his word.

The following evening, Ramachandran told an audience in Vellore that the AIADMK flag would be kept flying for a thousand years to come. In his talks with Karunanidhi he had acquiesced to the four conditions stipulated by the DMK leader, which included the dissolving of the AIADMK and subscribing to the policies and programmes of the rival kazhagam. Never before in history has Tamil Nadu witnessed such expertise in turncoatism.

Karunanidhi, who was not taken up by the MGR drama, went ahead with his scheduled visit to Delhi and clinched a poll pact with Mrs Gandhi in less than 30 minutes, though much preliminary work had preceded their meeting. While it should be admitted that Ramachandran’s charisma among the women and youth of Tamil Nadu has not waned, he would be no match to the combined onslaught of the DMK and the Congress (I). What is more, the coming together of the DMK and the Congress (I) has threatened the very stability of the AIADMK administration. The new alliance has placed Karunanidhi in a commanding position to overthrow the MGR government at any time. Aware o this new development, Ramachandran has adopted a low profile for the time being.

The operations before the Tamil Nadu chief minister are limited. Either surrender to the DMK or merge with the National Party of India floated by G.P. Sippy of the film world and contribute to the merriment of one and all. The days of Ramachandran’s political hegemony are numbered.”

In hindsight, one can infer that this report (couched in cinema allegory), did underestimate MGR’s political rapport with the masses. The reporter (if he/she had identified himself/herself, later) would have been ridiculed for predicting the pulse of Tamil Nadu voters. (1) Despite the negative prediction in October 1979, within 9 months in June 1980, MGR would prove that he could beat “the combined onslaught of the DMK and the Congress (I)” handily. (2) MGR never surrendered his party to DMK. (3) His party would even win the third consecutive legislative assembly election in 1984, defeating Karunanidhi’s DMK.

Report in Illustrated Weekly of India, Dec 30, 1979

Prasad Rao’s report, was somewhat balanced: it indicated that MGR, while retaining his matinee idol charisma, will face a tough battle in tackling the Indira-Karunanidhi power alliance. It also did not issue a false prediction that MGR would lose his political clout. Excerpts:

“Mr Karunanidhi scored a strategic victory by grabbing the Congress (I) mainly because of fumbling by Mr. M.G. Ramachandran in his effort to beat down Mrs Gandhi’s demand for seats to the minimum number possible. A sudden move by Mr Charan Singh to reunite the Kazhagams as a bulwark against Mrs Gandhi was disturbing to the Congress (I) President, who did not forget the earlier bitter experience of being let down by MGR when she made a bid to enter the Lok Sabha through the Thanjavur by-election in June. Fearing another ‘betrayal’ through the matinee idol’s penchant for ‘double roles’, Mrs Gandhi quickly accepted Mr Karunanidhi’s offer of an alliance. Having nothing to lose and everything to gain, the DMK chief did not haggle over the seats. He conceded the 22 seats she wanted (plus the lone Lok Sabha seat of the Union Territory of Pondicherry).

In contrast, MGR took a mighty long time forging his alliance. His Central Government allies, the Lok Dal and the Congress (U), till the last minute, were hopeful of being accommodated. MGR was not impressed with the two parties which, in Tamil Nadu, were mere paper tigers. He quietly ditched them. The Janata is something else. In this State, it is the rump of the late Mr K Kamaraj’s Congress (O). For what it is worth, it still has a presence. His achievement is in roping in the two mutually antagonistic Communist parties, that too in the company of the Janata which elsewhere is deemed to be tainted by communalism.

No principle or issue is involved in the tussle, MGR, who was prepared to join hands with Mrs Gandhi till the other day, now came out against ‘authoritarianism’. He talks of a ‘national government’ and wants an opportunity for a Southerner to become Prime Minister.

One thing can be said – there is no candidate of prime ministerial timber in the Tamil Nadu poll arena. Among the notable candidates, Mr Bala Pazhanoor, Petroleum Minister in the Caretaker Government, is seeking re-election from Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu as the AIADMK has allotted his erstwhile constitutency of Pondicherry to the Janata. He faces a Congress opponent, Mr R. Muthukumaran, in this traditionally Congress area. In 1977 the seat was won by a Congress (I) candidate against a Congress (O) rival. Mr Pazhanoor’s chances can be termed even.

By the very nature of the line-up of the adversaries, no sweep of the 1977 pattern can be expected this time in Tamil Nadu. MGR’s matinee idol charisma is still in evidence. But, for the first time, it will have to contend with pull of a national figure of Mrs Gandhi’s stature, combined with the no mean abilities of Mr Karunanidhi.”

Karunanidhi’s reminiscence in 2009 (After 20 years)

Long after the death of principals (Indira Gandhi and C.M. Stephen in 1984, Charan Singh and MGR in 1987, Biju Patnaik in 1997), Karunanidhi had reminisced in 2009 and placed the blame on MGR’s namesake and confidant Panruti S. Ramachandran for playing the role of spoiler in the 1979 DMK-ADMK merger issue. Excerpts from a report that appeared in the Hindu newspaper:

“…Patnaik brought up the issue of the merger and Mr. Karunanidhi said that he enquired as to where the suggestion had come from. Patnaik said that MGR wanted the merger and wanted to know what conditions that Mr Karunanidhi would put forth.

He had three (sic, there were four listed) conditions: one, the name would remain DMK since it was the name that Anna (C,N.Annadurai, former Chief Minister) had given the party. Two, the picture of Anna on the flag of the ADMK should be retained; if he took the picture off the flag he would be accused of not being faithful to Anna’s legacy. Three, he wanted the Rs 9,000 limit for reservation (economic criterion) to go. [Fourth condition was] He would continue as party head and had no objection to MGR continuing as Chief Minister

MGR walked into Mr. Karunanidhi’s room and enquired after him. ‘He used to call me Bhagawanae [God] or Muthalali [owner]’, Mr. Karunanidhi said and added that the meeting was very cordial…’He left for Vellore after this meeting. I do not know what happened to him in the car. An undesirable person got into his ear and told him many things.’ Mr. Karunanidhi said and added that Panruti Ramachandran was in the car.”

However, in the vol.3 [1997] of his autobiography, Karunanidhi had excluded mentioning the spoiler role played by Panruti Ramachandran. But also included, two more additional conditions. Fifth one, mainly because merger happens, none of the current DMK MLAs need to be placed in a Cabinet minister list. Sixth one, After the merger, at an appropriate time decision can be made on the positions of president, secretary, treasurer and administrative slots of the merged party. Kannan had interviewed Panruti Ramachandran for his MGR biography, and presented the view of this Ramachandran. The politician from ancient Panruti town had pleaded with MGR that even if merger of the two parties may progress and cordiality may rule among the top leaders (MGR and Karunanidhi), Anna DMK’s foot soldiers may suffer at the hands of DMK ruffians, and how would you soothe the sentiments of party’s cadre in such circumstances.

I entertain some reservations on the version Biju Patnaik had presented to Karunanidhi, that merger initiative was from MGR. It could have been the ‘polite political hook’ thrown to Karunanidhi to check latter’s intentions, rather than placing the ‘Charan Singh initiative card’. Patnaik was a Cabinet minister in the short-lived Charan Singh regime, and without Charan Singh’s ‘active push’, Patnaik couldn’t have acted on his own. Why MGR had to approach Biju Patnaik (a political leader from Orissa state) seems a mystery? MGR’s access route to Charan Singh was Tamil Nadu Congress leader C. Subramaniam (a former confidant of Indira Gandhi) who was also a member of Charan Singh cabinet. As the above mentioned date line indicates, that on August 25, C. Subramaniam had met with MGR in Chennai, and this DMK-ADMK merger issue was NOT brought up by him.

Results of the Jan 1980 Lok Sabha election

The general election was held on January 3 and 6. The results for nationwide 531 constituencies, arranged according to the decreasing order of percent vote share, were as follows:

(Parties – number of constituencies won; total votes polled; percent of votes)

Indian National Congress (Indira) – 353 seats – 84,455,313 votes – 42.09%

Janata Party (Jagjivan Ram)– 31 seats – 37,530,228 votes – 18.97%

Janata Party (Secular/Charan Singh) – 41 seats – 18,574,696 votes – 9.39%

Communist Party of India (Marxist) – 37 seats– 12,352,331 votes – 6.24%

Indian National Congress (Urs) – 13 seats – 10,449,859 votes – 5.28%

Communist Party of India – 10 seats – 4,927,342 votes – 2.49%

Anna DMK – 2 seats – 4,674,064 votes – 2.36%

DMK – 16 seats – 4,236,537 votes – 2.14%

As for the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu, the vote share for the four major parties were as follows:

Parties – contested constituencies, constituencies won, total votes polled

Indian National Congress (Indira) – 22 seats, won 20 – 5,821,411 votes

DMK – 16 seats, won 16 – 4,236,537 votes

Anna DMK – 24 seats, won 2 – 4,674,064 votes

Janata Party (Jagjivan Ram)– 9 seats, won 0 – 1,465,782 votes

Overall cumulative vote tally for the DMK and Congress (I) alliance was 10,057,947 votes. In addition, this alliance also included one Muslim party (IUML) contesting Vellore constituency. A.K.A. Abdul Samad won against the Janata Party contestant, polling 232,567 votes. DMK, ADMK and Congress (I) did not contest this constituency.

MGR’s ADMK and Janata Party alliance cumulatively received 6,139,846 votes. This turned out to be the first and only ‘major stumple’ in MGR’s political career.

Analysis of Jan. 1980 Lok Sabha Results

As this is the only major election in which MGR stumbled in his life, a bit of analysis about his strategy is warranted. Though MGR’s ADMK party did perform creditably to win the 3^rd consecutive term in the jointly held Dec 1984 Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections, the decision on candidate selections for these elections was done without MGR’s participation. The reason: he was recuperating in Brooklyn Hospital, New York, following his diabetic coma, stroke and kidney transplantation. Thus, the Jan 1980 Lok Sabha election and the subsequent June 1980 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election were the second and final opportunity in which MGR himself officially approved the choice of his party’s candidates.

After the alliance of DMK and Indira Congress in Sept 1979, MGR had to manage with the available cards he could play. For electoral alliance, he was forced to choose the Janata Party (now led by Jagjivan Ram), while ditching the overtures of Janata Party (Secular) led by Charan Singh, to the displeasure of the latter. In Tamil Nadu, Janata Party simply was devoid of either a voter base or a recognized leader of stature. What was offered by the Janata Party, was the rump elements of ‘anti-Indira Congress (Old)’, led by MGR’s namesake, P. Ramachandran (aka Paa Raa, 1921-2001), a long term associate of Kamaraj. MGR might have chased the mirage of the 1973 Dindigul constituency by-election results. At that time, candidate of his ADMK party was the winner; the runner up was ‘anti-Indira Congress (Old)’, then led by Kamaraj himself. DMK was pushed to the 3^rd place, and the Indira Congress candidate lost his deposit. But, situation in 1980 was different from 1973 for multiple reasons: (1) Kamaraj had died in 1975, and his associate P. Ramachandran was lacked charisma. Rest of the Congress (Old) party’s prominent crowd pullers, like Kannadasan and Sivaji Ganesan, had shifted their loyalties to Indira Congress. (2) While Dindigul was a single constituency dominated by single caste, all 39 constituencies with its varied kaleidoscope of castes were at stake in 1980. (3) Judicious candidate selection was a factor for scoring a victory in Dindigul during 1973. Then, where as Karunanidhi fumbled, MGR came out as a winner. (4) In 1973, DMK had to face the anti-incumbent ‘wind’. In 1980, party roles were reversed, and MGR’s party had to face the anti-incumbent ‘wind’.

Now, to the performances of 24 Anna DMK candidates. Seven of the sitting MPs of ADMK who won the same constituency in 1977, lost contesting the same constituency in 1980. They were, S. Jaganathan (Sriperumbudur-SC), R. Mohanarangam (Chengalpattu), C.A.Venugopal Gounder (Vandavasi), P. Kannan (Salem), R. Kolanthaivelu (Tiruchengode), S. Ramasamy (Periyakulam), V. Arunachalam aka Aladi Aruna (Tirunelveli). One losing candidate for ADMK in 1977, P. Anbalagan, contested the same constituency Ramanathapuram in 1980, and lost again. ADMK’s two winning candidates in 1980, G. Chinnasamy (Gobichettipalayam) and N. Soundararajan (Sivakasi) were new faces.

An interesting case study was Karuppu Thevar Maya Thevar (1934-2022) for the Dindigul constituency. He made a name for himself in the 1973 by-election as the first Anna DMK MP. (Part 68 https://sangam.org/mgr-remembered-part-68/) In the 1977 General election also, he retained his seat, contesting on ADMK ticket. For some unexplained reason, he fell out of favor from MGR, quit the party in late 1979 and joined DMK party. One guess was, Maya Thevar was miffed that MGR had ignored the seniority status of him as a Lok Sabha MP and recommended Bala Pazhanor for the Cabinet minister position during Charan Singh’s tenure.

Karunanidhi wisely accommodated Maya Thevar and allowed him to contest the same Dindigul constituency on DMK ticket in 1980. Maya Thevar did post a win against an ADMK candidate V. Rajan Chellappa, but with reduced vote percentage. In the past, Maya Thevar had won the 1973 by-election with 52% vote share, and 1977 election with 59.6% vote share – both as an ADMK nominee. In 1980 election, he was able to win with 52% vote share as a DMK nominee. However, Maya Thevar couldn’t sustain his luck as a winning DMK candidate subsequently in the 1984 and 1991 elections. He lost badly both times to Anna DMK candidates polling only 36.4% to K.R. Nadarajan in 1984 and 30.9% to Dindigul C. Srinivasan in 1991.

Then, the case of Aravinda Bala Pajanor – one of MGR’s nominees to the Cabinet position in Charan Singh tenure (mentioned previously in Part 80). As indicated in the above mentioned Illustrated Weekly of India report, he shifted from Pondicherry constituency to contest Cuddalore constituency in 1980. He lost by a vote margin of 108, 651 scoring only 34.8% against the winning Congress Party candidate R. Muthukumaran, who had 59.4% vote share. In his autobiography, Karunanidhi had noted, he made a special plea to Indira Gandhi, to choose Muthukumaran, a locally prominent politician, rather than nominating someone who was a carpet bagger candidate.

Kalki cartoon Jan 20. 1980

A Kalki cartoon (Jan 20, 1980) showed Karunanidhi taunting MGR with the words ‘What teacher are you? Your boy has failed. Please resign!’. While Karunanidhi’s smiling boy shows a raised slate with a score 16/39, MGR’s boy scratches his head with a lowered slate showing the score 2/39. To reflect the sentiments of this cartoon, in his autobiography, Karunanidhi had needled passingly as follows: ‘Following the election results, Devaraj Urs, the then Chief Minister of Karnataka, had resigned his position due to the heavy defeat sustained by the Congress (Urs) Party. News reporters pointed this to me, and asked me, whether he would ask the same for MGR to resign the Chief Minister position? My response was, ‘I’ll not emphasize that. But, during the election campaign at Thenampettai Congress stadium, MGR had proclaimed that a loss at Chennai Central constituency would be his own loss of self esteem. MGR should be the one to answer the question, whether an electoral loss at a constituency is applicable or not for one’s self esteem.’

The candidate supported by MGR at the Chennai Central constituency, was none other than P. Ramachandran, the Tamil Nadu leader of the then Janata Party. He had lost to DMK candidate Dr. A. Kalanithi (1939-2020) badly. Whereas Kalanithi polled 290,199 votes (59.5%), P. Ramachandran could collect only a miserable 185,150 votes (38.0%), though the latter posted a win in this constituency in 1977, against Anna DMK candidate Raja Mohamed by collecting 259,437 votes (56.5%). There could be three inferences in the pitiable performance of nominal leader of Janata Party then. First, Chennai was (is) not a strong hold of Anna DMK party, and P. Ramachandran’s performance in 1977 was boosted by his alliance with DMK party then. Secondly, even Anna DMK party’s cadres were not that impressed by P. Ramachandran’s docile face though MGR had called them to vote for him. Thirdly, it also proved Karunanidhi did not fumble in choosing a locally popular candidate for this prestige seat.

For the Chennai South constituency, MGR had chosen Mrs. Sulochana Sampath (1929?-2015), the wife of E.V.K. Sampath (Karunanidhi’s nemesis in DMK during 1950s), who subsequently quit DMK along with Kannadasan, to eventually join the Congress Party of Kamaraj. Sulochana Sampath contested against R. Venkataraman (1910-2009), an old hand in Indira Congress party – later to hold the Vice-President/the President of India positions. She would lose by polling 38.3% against Venkataraman’s 60.3%.

Indira Gandhi’s interview

The Newsweek of Jan 21, 1980, carried an interview of Indira Gandhi by its reporters Paul Martin and R. Ramanujam. Excerpts of Indira’s answers to some of the questions asked are provided below: [dots as well as words within parentheses and in italic, are as in the original]

Indira Gandhi in Newsweek cover, Jan 21, 1980

Newsweek: You have made a remarkable comeback. Do you feel vindicated?

Indira: Yes, certainly I do, because [opposition politicians] have spread falsehoods. I think there was foreign influence also. And I think the Western countries were very much pro-Janata. The Soviet Union was not pro-Janata, but I think [the Soviets] wanted me weaker so that I would be more dependent on the so-called leftists here.

Newsweek: What is likely to happen to the court proceedings against you, now that you are Prime Minister and can decide on the fate of judicial matters?

Indira: I think that if my cases are run on a purely judicial process, they should be allowed to run their course. They do not bother me. But…none of these cases has any substance.

Newsweek: You have spoken of the difficult task ahead of ‘rebuilding the nation’. Did the outgoing Janata government leave such a mess around?

Indira: A very senior person who has been in government has told me that the economy is far worse than anything we had imagined. They [Janata’s leaders] have spent recklessly. They have made reckless promises to the people. They have not really looked at the long term at all. And everybody was making decisions. In that Cabinet, every minister was a Prime Minister. And the Prime Minister himself did not know what was happening. I have just been to see the Prime Minister’s residence. When I was in the place, it was all offices. It was work around the clock. Now I find there is no place at all for work. All the rooms have been turned into bedrooms. [The Prime Minister] made an office in the house next door. But a man there told me [the Prime Minister] never used the office.

Newsweek: Do you believe now that the 1975 state of emergency was necessary

Indira: I did…If anyone was hurt in any way, well, I regret it…The emergency for the first year was very successful. Everybody was happy. Apart from those poor chaps under detention, and the press, everybody was happy. Perhaps we should have lifted it then. Politically, we could have done that. But here I got tempted by the fact that the economy had improved, and I thought that if I could once put it on a sound basis, then [continuation of the state of emergency] would not matter. I thought I might lose, but I thought it was more important to leave a sound and stable economy. If this situation were to arise again, I think I would still give preference to the economy rather than my political future.

Newsweek: Those who mistrust your motives maintain that the 1980 election will be India’s last.

Indira: They said it in the 1967 election. They said it in the 1971 election. They said it in 1977 and they said it for my re-election. It is nonsense.

Coda

Gail Omvedt (1941-2021), Minnesota-born Indian sociologist, had summarized the three components of the popular mood that resulted in Indira’s return to power. These were, “a disgust with ‘all these politicians, those self-interested leaders’ (in which Indira and her supporters were also included); the feeling that nevertheless Indira was perhaps a little different; and the feeling that after all the country needed a government and the people needed a ruler.” According to a commentary by Varadachari, Indira Gandhi’s first comment to pressmen was ‘I am a balanced person. I do not go overboard this way or that’. She has also ruled out vendetta and vindictiveness. Unfortunately, Indira Gandhi’s professed ‘balance’ toppled within five weeks, when due to the persistence demand of her election alliance partner Karunanidhi, she did topple the MGR-led Tamil Nadu state government, by decree.

Cited Sources

Anonymous: Wounds to lick. India Today, Oct 1, 1979, pp. 45 and 47.

Fred Bruning and Paul Martin: The Empress of India. Newsweek, Jan 21, 1980, pp. 8-12.

Kannan: MGR – a Life, Penguin Books, Gurgaon, Haryana, 2017, pp. 260 – 264

Karunanidhi: Nenjukku Neethi, vol.3, Thirumagal Nilayam, Chennai, 1997, pp. 358-389.

R.K. Laxman: Freedom to cartoon, freedom to speak. Daedalus, Fall 1989; 118(4): 68-91.

V.G. Prasad Rao: Tamilnadu – Battle of the ‘Progressive Fronts’. Illustrated Weekly of India, Dec 30, 1979.

Gail Omvedt: India after Gandhi. Lanka Guardian, Feb 1, 1980; 2(19): 7-8.

Special Correspondent: ADMK came close to merging with DMK – Karunanidhi. The Hindu (Chennai), Apr 1, 2009.

Varadaachari: The return of Indira. Tribune (Colombo), Jan 19, 1980, pp. 18-21.