Muthuvel Karunanidhi was known not just for his mastery of Tamil and his political acumen, but also for his outspoken atheism. Karunanidhi, who died on August 7, aged 94, once asked where the Hindu god Ram studied engineering; he was asking for proof of the bridge many Hindus believe helped the exiled prince lead an army of vaanars to Lanka. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) supremo also once said Valmiki, the author of the Ramayan, had called the epic's hero a "drunkard". Karunanidhi's party has its roots in the Dravidian movement, most closely associated with the rationalist EV Ramasamy (1879 - 1973) -- also simply known as Periyar. In Makers of Modern India, the historian Ramachandra Guha writes that Ramasamy's message "is nicely captured in a statue of his in Tiruchirappalli [Trichy] which carries this inscription: 'God does not exist. The inventor of God is a fool. The propagator of God is a scoundrel. The worshipper of God is a barbarian'." 'DILUTION IN DMK'S ATHEISM' Did Karunanidhi's commitment to atheism ever flag? TS Sudhir, a leading political analyst, says it's difficult to say if it did on a personal level, but adds that there's been a dilution in the DMK's atheism. He also says that while Karunanidhi (and his son MK Stalin, to some extent) wore his atheism on his sleeves, members of his extended family aren't hardcore non-believers. For example, a 2011 India Today report observed how the family of Karunanidhi, "who often likes to claim the mantle of rationalist leader EV Ramasamy Periyar, has recently been spotted seeking divine intervention at temples". THE FUTURE OF DMK ATHEISM? TS Sudhir says that the Dravidian anti-God, anti-Brahminism and anti-Hindi slogans aren't as seductive today as they were in the 1950s or 1960s. The DMK "will try to hold on to what Karunanidhi spoke about", he explains, but whether they do it with the same conviction remains to be seen. As well, he adds, only time will tell whether the Dravidian template will gain traction with younger voters. (Inputs from Ganesh Kumar Radha Udayakumar and Priyamvatha P) ALSO READ: Stalin's moving poem for Karunanidhi: For once, shall I call you Dad? WATCH: DMK after Karunanidhi: Will Stalin vs Alagiri feud split the party?<doc-sep>Karunanidhi’s 1970s’ mission was to improve the conditions in the slums, lay roads, erect street lights and provide other essential services including parks and dispensaries. DMK supporters near the Kauvery Hospital. (PTI/File) Karunanidhi’s 1970s’ mission was to improve the conditions in the slums, lay roads, erect street lights and provide other essential services including parks and dispensaries. DMK supporters near the Kauvery Hospital. (PTI/File) The emergence of M Karunanidhi as a top leader of the DMK, after C N Annadurai’s death in 1969, was also a time of emergence of Chennai as a metropolitan city. Within a year of Annadurai’s death, the population of Madras touched 25 lakh, with over 10 lakh people living in what the authorities called “slums”. It was the political and social challenge of doing justice to this huge population that led to the formation of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB), a body tasked to provide quality living conditions for the city’s daily wage labourers, domestic help and working class population. And the goodwill behind constituting such a body was vividly described in the ‘motto’ drafted by the then rationalist CM Karunanidhi — “Ezhayin Sirippil Iraivane Kanbom” (We shall see God in the smile of the poor). Karunanidhi’s 1970s’ mission was to improve the conditions in the slums, lay roads, erect street lights and provide other essential services including parks and dispensaries. Follow live updates on Karunanidhi’s funeral in English, Tamil When Annadurai was CM and Karunanidhi his right hand man, in 1967, the DMK government brought an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act to recognise ‘self-respect marriages’. The reform helped make marriages valid even without rituals. Tamil Nadu continues to be a state where one can get married without any rituals. The Karunanidhi regime in 1989 made an amendment to provide equal rights for women in ancestral property, to make sure that women have equal rights as men in the family. This amendment to the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 fulfilled the demands raised by the Self-Respect Movement since the 1920s. READ | Road ahead for post-Karunanidhi DMK: New rivals, battlelines A major challenge for Karunanidhi in his first year as CM was to bring land reforms. He introduced the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Reduction of Ceiling on Land) Act in 1970, which reduced the ceiling of land ownership for a family to 15 standard acres, from 30 acres in the earlier Congress regime. Karunanidhi used to remind his followers in rallies about how his 1970s’ Act “helped to declare 1,78,880 acres surplus and distributed among 1,37,236 eligible landless farmers, of whom 61,985 persons were Dalits”. His reform, however, was criticised for allegedly favouring landlords as it had exemptions for farm owners, sugarcane mills, etc. Tamil Nadu mourns the death of Karunanidhi. (Source: PTI) Tamil Nadu mourns the death of Karunanidhi. (Source: PTI) For social justice, a reservation policy by the AIADMK government in 1993 declaring 69% reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) was one that was raised by Karunanidhi even though the then CM J Jayalalithaa had taken it to greater heights. The state had a track record of ensuring reservation for the underprivileged for decades. There was 16 per cent reservation for SCs and STs, and 25 per cent for OBCs in 1951. It was the Karunanidhi regime in 1971 that increased OBC reservation to 31 per cent and 18 per cent for SCs and STs. His third regime conferred an exclusive 20 per cent reservation, a radical change, for MBCs by taking them away from the OBC category. See Pics | Rare and unseen photos from his political journey Inspired by the self-respect movement and working class struggles of the Left, Karunanidhi enforced a compulsory paid holiday on May Day for all industries in the state. Even today, all industries have to follow the rule in Tamil Nadu. READ | Karunanidhi politicised cinema with Dravidian ideology In 1974, it was Karunanidhi who successfully took up with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi the issue of the right of Chief Ministers to unfurl the national flag on Independence Day. He was seen unfurling the flag for the first time on August 15 that year. The earlier precedent was of the President of India and Governors unfurling national flags on Republic Day, while Independence Day was mostly an internal event in institutions. DMK Patriarch D Karunanidhi passed away after battling illness in Kauvery hospital. (Express photo) DMK Patriarch D Karunanidhi passed away after battling illness in Kauvery hospital. (Express photo) Welfare schemes and freebies dominated election manifestos in Tamil Nadu for several decades, and the DMK was no exception. But what Karunanidhi inherited in politics helped the DMK mark a difference, with more planning than free gifts, more planned expenditure than number of freebies, as he believed that “unless you plan, you cannot give something”. But over the years, the Karunanidhi regime was seen competing with the AIADMK on this front. READ | Muthuvel Karunanidhi: From failing Class X to scripting the history of modern Tamil Nadu One of the finest models of ideal villages was also Karunanidhi’s idea. Samathuvapuram, a scheme introduced by the Karunanidhi regime in 1997 in the name of his political mentor Periyar, was to bring social harmony and fight caste discrimination. At a time the state had been witnessing caste violence and his own party was forced to play the community cards in electoral politics, his idea of Samathuvapuram villages had 100 houses each, where families from all communities lived together, shared a common community hall and even a burial ground. READ | M Karunanidhi: A true artist who excelled at every role he played After Karunanidhi’s health deteriorated and he was shifted to hospital on July 27, there was news about the appointment of a non-Brahmin priest at the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai. The appointment was an outcome of an ordinance of the 2006-11 Karunanidhi regime that allowed non-Brahmins to be trained in priesthood and hired by temples managed by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the state government.<doc-sep>(Reuters) - M Karunanidhi, five-time chief minister of India’s Tamil Nadu state and one of the dominant figures in the politics of southern India for half a century, died on Tuesday at the age of 94. Slideshow ( 4 images ) An outspoken atheist in a country where politicians often trumpet their piety, Karunanidhi built his political machine as a crusader for social justice, with policies aimed at helping those at the bottom of India’s rigid Hindu caste hierarchy. Thousands of his supporters were gathered outside the hospital in state capital Chennai to mourn his demise, as scores of policemen kept watch. Roads outside the hospital and at Karunanidhi’s residence were packed with people. Karunanidhi, who led his party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for about 50 years, had been treated in hospital since July 26 for age-related ailments including urinary tract infections. His death comes less than two years after that of his bitter rival, actress-turned politician J Jayalalithaa, leaving a political void in the state. “His understanding of policy and emphasis on social welfare stood out,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted following the veteran’s demise. India’s two national parties, Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress, have little presence in Tamil Nadu, a state of nearly 70 million people where politics have been dominated by the DMK and Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK. Karunanidhi, who always appeared in public with dark glasses and a yellow shawl draped on a shoulder, built his career fighting oppression by Brahmins, a priestly community at the top of the Hindu caste system. He criticized organized religion and superstition and was known for his sharp wit, command over the Tamil language and populist schemes for those at the bottom of society. Supporters on Twitter reminisced about how his scheme to offer free education to first-generation graduates had helped them. The iconoclastic leader also tried to install non-Brahmins as priests in temples. He was known for drawing foreign investors to India’s second largest state economy, and oversaw the state becoming an industrial powerhouse, credited with opening many industrial and technology parks. Karunanidhi, who wrote scripts for Tamil cinema before entering politics, faced allegations of corruption and nepotism. Many of his close family members served as lawmakers and his son M. K. Stalin is his de facto successor. In one case involving an alleged loss to the state over construction of a bridge, police dragged Karunanidhi out of his home after midnight. Pictures of the disheveled politician made it to the nation’s television screens, but police were not able to produce enough evidence and charges were dropped. He blamed the raid on his opponent Jayalalithaa who also faced allegations of graft and was found guilty of corruption after her death.<doc-sep>
DMK chief M Karunanidhi | Photo Credit: PTI Chennai: Kalaignar is no more. The DMK chief breathed his last in the Kauvery Hospital on Tuesday at the age of 94. As the five-time chief minister of Tamil Nadu prayers poured in for the revered late DMK supremo. It is interesting to note that Kalaignar himself didn't believe in God. Taking on the legacy of Periyar EV Ramasamy, a key leader in the Dravidian movement, Karunanidhi carried the ideology of rejection of religious ideals when it came to societal issues. However, according to some reports, the party leader has been a temple patron as well. He had promoted the renovation and construction of temples in the state of Tamil Nadu. As per a report by Economic Times, the leader who was speculated to be cozying up to religious sentiments spent as many as Rs 420 crore on the renovation of temples. Karunanidhi, fondly called Kalaignar, was the only remaining atheist politicians of the Dravidian parties. Others chief ministers of the state MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalitha after the rejection of atheist and rationalist principles. A fun fact is that the self-proclaimed atheist's residence was right next to a Krishna temple where he has been living for decades. In another incident, priests visited the DMK chief's residence and chanted mantras in a video that went viral only. The video drew severe criticism since the DMK leader is known for his anti-religious stand. "Even though I am an atheist, I very well know that some around me and in the DMK aren’t totally committed to that ideology. I never impose my party’s ideas, especially those relating to divinity, on others. Not even on members of my family," Karunanidhi was quoted as saying by The Hindu in 2015. The celebrated leader, apart from some controversial remarks, had been known to respect the sentiments of all religions. As per one of his partymen, even though he saw himself as the disciple of Periyar, Karunanidhi respected the beliefs of others. The leader along with his party cadres, had also visited temples enough before elections as several others also rushed to the shrines alike.