C. N. Annadurai

Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly known as Anna, also known as Perarignar Anna (Anna, the scholar or Elder Brother), was an Indian politician who served as the fourth and last Chief Minister of Madras State from 1967 until 1969 and first Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for 20 days (after Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu) before his death.

He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold either post.

He was well known for his oratorical skills and was an acclaimed writer in the Tamil language.

He scripted and acted in several plays.

Some of his plays were later made into movies.

He was the first politician from the Dravidian parties to use Tamil cinema extensively for political propaganda.

Born in a middle-class family, he first worked as a school teacher, then moved into the political scene of the Madras Presidency as a journalist.

He edited several political journals and enrolled as a member of the Dravidar Kazhagam.

As an ardent follower of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, he rose in stature as a prominent member of the party.

Due to differences looming with Periyar, on issues of separate independent state of Dravida Nadu and union with India, he crossed swords with his political mentor.

The friction between the two finally erupted when Periyar married Maniammai, who was much younger than him.

Angered by this action of Periyar, Annadurai with his supporters parted from Dravidar Kazhagam and launched his own party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

The DMK initially followed the same ideologies as its parent, Dravidar Kazhagam.

Annadurai was born in a Tamil Sengunthar family on 15 September 1909 in Conjeevaram, Madras Presidency, in a lower-middle-class family.

His father Natarajan Mudaliar was a weaver and his mother was Bangaru Ammal.

He was raised by her sister Rajamani Ammal.

At the age of 21, he married Rani while he was still a student.

The couple had no children of their own, so they later adopted and raised Rajamani's grandchildren.

He attended Pachaiyappa's High School, but left school to work as a clerk in the town's Municipal office to assist with the family finances.

The Justice party was formed by non-Brahmin elites in 1917.

In 1934, he graduated with a B.A. degree from Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai.

He then earned an MA degree in economics and politics from the same college.

He worked as an English teacher in Pachaiyappa High School.

Later he quit the teaching job and began involving himself in journalism and he served as an editor in few weekly magazine and then he indulged into politics.

Though Annadurai was an atheist in his personal life as he took oath as the Chief Minister of the state in the 'name of conscience' rather than in the 'name of god', he proclaimed as "Only one race, Only one God" (Ondre Kulam Oruvanae Devan) from tamil work Thirumanthiram penned by Thirumoolar in order to unify the people of Tamil Nadu.

Though secular to the core, he later described himself as a Hindu sans the sacred ash, a Christian minus the holy cross, and a Muslim without the prayer cap.

Annadurai would attack superstitions and religious exploitation but would never fight against the spiritual values of society.

He once explained his stance towards God and religion as "I do not break coconuts for Pillaiyar, (a form of worship) neither do I break his idols."

(Nan Thengayum udaipathillai; Pillaiyarum Udaipathillai)

Annadurai's interest in politics made him join the Justice party in 1935.

But with the evolution of national politics and the constitution of India after the Sino-Indian War in 1962, Annadurai dropped the claim for an independent Dravida Nadu.

Various protests against the ruling Congress government took him to prison on several occasions; the last of which was during the Madras anti-Hindi agitation of 1965.

The agitation itself helped Annadurai to gain popular support for his party.

His party won a landslide victory in the 1967 state elections.

His cabinet was the youngest at that time in India.

He legalised Self-Respect marriages, enforced a two-language policy (in preference to the three-language formula in other southern states), implemented subsidies for rice, and renamed Madras State to Tamil Nadu.

However, he died of cancer just two years into office.

His funeral had the highest attendance of any to that date.

Several institutions and organisations are named after him.

A splinter party launched by M. G. Ramachandran in 1972 was named after him as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.