Life with Thalaivar: Stalin's autobiography packs some surprises

The year was 1996. Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin, the third son of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch M Karunanidhi, was elected as the Mayor of Chennai for the first time.

At that time, a journalist had asked Stalin: “What would you have been if you hadn’t entered politics?” Stalin replied: “No chance. I would still have been in politics”. He did not pause even for a moment before making this statement.

In his newly-released autobiography Ungalil Oruvan (‘One among you’), the current CM of Tamil Nadu echoes this same point – that he is in politics because he grew up  surrounded by politics and he cannot separate himself from it. In short, it runs in his blood.

Published by Chennai-based Poompuhar Publications, the 336-page book is part one of Stalin’s autobiography. It covers the period from his birth (March 1, 1953) until the day he was detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) – February 1, 1976.

‘Not appa, but thalaivar’

A half-dozen biographies on Stalin have already been published in the past. While some were merely hagiographies, others have recorded his political achievements as Mayor of Chennai, minister of local and municipal administration and deputy chief minister.

This autobiography, however, stands out because it deals extensively with Stalin’s relationship with his father. Interestingly, Stalin recounts how he had always called his father ‘thalaivar’ (‘leader’) and not the customary ‘appa’ (‘father’).

He writes, “He went to prison when I was just five months old and he had become a leader by then. He was the DMK’s propaganda secretary when he was 29. So, I was born to a leader. That’s why I have always called him thalaivar, rather than appa.

In fact, after Karunanidhi’s death, Stalin had penned an emotional letter stating ‘Can i call  you appa one last time, my leader?’

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The 1950s and ’60s were a tumultuous period for his father Karunanidhi. After CN Annadurai, the DMK founder, there were many leaders like EVK Sampath, VR Nedunchezhiyan, KA Mathiyazhagan and NV Natarajan, who aspired to become the second-in-command of the party. Amid this intense competition, Karunanidhi proved his mettle through his sheer hard work at the grassroots level as a party builder, as a highly sought-after dialogue writer for films and as an accomplished editor of Murasoli, the party organ.

Karunanidhi’s hands were full at that time and he was unable to spend much time with Stalin at a time, when a child needed a father’s affection and care. The patriarch himself once said that he had reached a stage where he had time only to catch brief moments with his children.

“At first thalaivar decided to name me ‘Ayyadurai’, combining two words — ayya, which refers to Periyar (the word ‘Ayya’ is used with reverence in Tamil Nadu), while durai was meant to be from Annadurai. However, I was born during the time of the death of the ‘Iron Man of Russia’ – Stalin. In Chennai, a condolence meeting was organised for (Joseph) Stalin and during his speech, thalaivar announced that he would name his son Stalin,” narrates the CM in his autobiography.

Practising politics from school days

However, the name became an issue when the family sought admission in Church Park School in Chennai’s Anna Salai. The school refused to give admission to Stalin because of his name and subsequently, he had to join Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School in Chetpet.

In his book, Stalin writes that he would start walking from his house in Gopalapuram to Stella Maris College. He would then board a bus and get off at Sterling Road from where he would walk to his school in Chetpet.

“After thalaivar became a minister, we students demanded that a bus should ply along the stretch where the school is located in the mornings and evenings. It was after our demand, the 29C bus started plying that stretch. Keeping this incident in my mind, when I became a legislator for the first time, in my first Assembly speech, I demanded that the government should provide free bus rides to students,” writes Stalin.

This was his earliest brush with politics, he says.

Also read: Stalin gets tough with rebel DMK councillors; orders them to resign at once

In 1969, DMK’s youth wing organised a meeting to celebrate Annadurai’s 70th birthday at the Gopalapuram youth wing office. The function went well with important senior leaders of the party participating in the event and Stalin was on cloud nine because his photograph was published in the party organ Murasoli. However, it appears Karunanidhi had never wanted any of his children to enter politics.

This is because he feared that they would not do well in their studies, writes Stalin. In that particular function, in fact, Karunanidhi pointing out that he was unable to pursue his studies beyond his school final because of his engagement in public life, said he wished his sons would not enter politics but to continue their higher studies.

He reiterated the same during the 40th show of his play ‘Murasey Muzhangu’ (let the drums roll) held in 1971 in Chennai. Written by Murasoli Adiyar, a journalist of Murasoli, the play had Stalin and Kutty Padmini in the lead roles.

Contrary to popular opinion, DMK did not only stage plays during election campaigns, the party had staged plays like ‘Dindigul Theerppu’, after the 1973 Assembly bypoll debacle in Dindigul when the AIADMK had recorded its first victory.

Documenting DMK’s state conference culture

Stalin’s reference to some of the key state conferences organised by DMK occupies at least half of the book. Initially, the first three or four conferences were organised once every five years. From 1949 to 2021, the party conducted 11 state conferences besides organising district conferences every year.

The cadres used to throng these four-day long conferences with their families and treat them like festivals.

One such district conference held at Kanchipuram, the birthplace of Annadurai, in April 1972, occupies an important place in TN’s Dravidian political history. It was the last conference in which the actor turned politician MG Ramachandran participated as a DMK leader. In October that year, following his expulsion from the party, actor turned politician MGR floated his own party Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which later added the words ‘All India’ to its name.

“It was in this conference thalaivar put a full stop to calling the DMK a separatist movement,” says Stalin.

Stalin recalls in his book that in his inaugural speech, Aladi Aruna (former state minister) had said that if a plebiscite was carried to decide whether a separation was needed or not, then Tamil Nadu would poll more votes in favour of separation.

“To this, thalaivar, during his speech, replied (to Aladi Aruna) that if such a plebiscite was carried out, the first vote against the separation would be his,” writes Stalin, adding that Karunanidhi tried to explain that there was no connection between state autonomy and separation.

Barber community in the Dravidian movement 

A section of the population in the state disliked Karunanidhi because of his caste. He was an Isai Vellalar, who came from a community of traditional temple musicians which is categorised as a backward class in the state. The Isai Vellalars, largely found in the Delta districts, are now into agriculture. In other parts of the state, they pursue different kinds of occupations, including running barber shops. So, Karunanidhi became a target for his haters.

But that hate failed to make Karunanidhi or the DMK weak. As Stalin puts it, the DMK party grew from the barber community.

“When thalaivar became a chief minister for the first time, his first official meeting was participating in the barber workers association conference. He had said, ‘If you (barbers) are scissors then we (the government / party) are the comb and vice versa. That much unity and cooperation prevails between us’. DMK’s magazines were found in saloons, making them a library for the Dravidian movement. Barber shops were also campaigning spots for proclaiming self-respect and love for the Tamil language. Even when his father Muthuvelar was in the death bed, thalaivar was giving a speech in a barbers conference,” writes Stalin.

In many places, Stalin shares information that’s not common knowledge. For instance, it was a Brahmin who sold the house in Chennai’s Gopalapuram to Karunanidhi in 1955. Other examples are — the cadres of the Self-Respect Movement used to sing songs penned by Nagai Ammainathan; and Karunanidhi’s favourite poetry was penned by poet Suradha.

This book ends with Stalin being hauled off to the Central Prison in Chennai during the Emergency. The second part of the autobiography is expected to hold more exciting episodes from the life of the scion of Tamil Nadu’s most prominent and powerful political family.