KAMARAJ

                                 KAMARAJ

                Kamaraj, who reached the zenith of his life through hard work, was born at Virudhunagar on 15th July, 1903 as the son of Kumaraswamy Nadar and Sivakami Ammal. His original name was Kamatshi. He had his early education in the government primary school during his 5^th year and during his 6^th year. He began his education in . As his father had died during the 6^th year, he put an end to the his education and joined as an assistant in textile shop owned by his uncle

His connection with the Congress:

                The news of Indian freedom struggle attracted Kamaraj. The inspiring speeches of the leaders made Kamaraj stir against the suppressive attitude of the English. So he joined the congress party, held meetings and participated in the processions bearing the national flag and collected fund through “undiyals”. This made his uncle Karuppaiya to sent Kamaraj to to work in a timber shop, owned by his sister. Loosing interest in the works of the timber shop, Kamaraj participated in the satyagraha held at Vaikom of Kerala. So he was brought back to Vidudhunagar again.

His deep involvement in the party:

                Fully involved by himself in the congress party at the age of 18, Kamaraj became the source of congress growth at Virudhunagar. He participated in all the struggles conducted by Congress party. He partook the riot at Suchindrem for the worship right of Harijans, non co-operation movement in 1920 and picketing of toddy shops at in 1923. he also participated with the disciples of the party in flag struggle held at . When he participated in the salt Satyagraha in 1930, he was released before time due to “Gandhiji—Irwin pact”. A great crowd of people took him in a procession to his house from Virudunagar railway station.

High posts in Politics:

                Several posts came in search of Kamaraj. When representatives from the districts were elected for the Congress working committee Kamaraj was elected for the Congress working committee Kamaraj was elected representative of Ramnad district. When Gandhiji was arrested for his involvement in the freedom struggle Kamaraj protested this arrest. Kamaraj was arrested, imprisoned at and later he was released. Satyamoorty, a great political sufferer in the party attracted Kamaraj very much. Assuming himself to be his master, Kamaraj acted as his right hand. When Satyamoorthy was elected the President of Tamilnadu Congress committee in 1936, Kamaraj was elected as its secretary. In 1937, Kamaraj became victorious from the Sattur constituency as the member of the legislative assembly. In 1940, supported by Satyamoorty he defeated Subaiya patronized by Rajaji by three voted for the post of President of Tamilnadu Congress Committee. When the second world was broke out was involved in the war by the English without the least consultation of Indian leaders. The attitude of the British aroused the leaders of . At the juncture, the Congress put forth a condition of complete independence. If would be given independence. Congress was prepard to help the English in the war. As the English refused to accept this condition the anti-English riot strengthened. Kamaraj participated in the riot too. When James Hope visited Tamilnadu to collect war fund Kamaraj propagated throughout Tamilnadu not to give that fund. In 1941, when Kamaraj was carrying the list of participants in the Satyagraha to Gandhiji, he was arrested in the train and imprisoned in Vellor jail. When he was in prison, he was elected the chairmen of . Again, he was given on year imprisonment for his participation in the quit movement in 1942.

                When Kamaraj was released from prison, he resigned the Chairmanship of virudhunagar Muncipality by saying to his followers, “I have the work of fighting for the freedom of Bharatham and you look after the welfare of Virudhunagar”. Then he proceeded to and participated. All congress committee meeting in which the Quit India resolution was passed. To execute the quit resolution, he came back to Tamilnadu. But even before the starting of the struggle he was arrested in Virudhunagar with several charges of offenses and he was imprisoned first at and then at Amaravathi for a total period of three years. His master Satyamorty died during this imprisonment which was a great shock to Kamaraj. When became free in 1947, the fame of Kamaraj had grown and he became a member of parliament in the election of 1952.

Becoming chief-minister of Tamilnadu:

                With the removal of Rajaji from the chief minister ship of Tamilnadu on 13^th April, 1954, Kamaraj took up that post. When he assumed power as chief minister, he became M.L.A. from Kudiyatham Constituency. During his administration Tamilnadu reached its peak of its progress. Unlike Rajaji’s ministry, the ministry of Kamaraj was constituted of 8 ministers. In spite of his aspiration to give representation to all sects of people in the ministry only efficient persons were given chances in his ministry. C. Subramonian, M. Baktavatcham, Paramesvaran, A.P. Sethi, M.P. Manickavelu, Ramnad Raja and Ramaswamy Padyachi constituted kamaraj’s ministry. By giving an opportunity to Parameswaran a Harijan in his Ministry, Kamaraj became the favourite of Harijans. In 1957 election forming an alliance with D.M.K. 151 seats were secured out of 205 total seats. Kamaraj became the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu once again and administered it till 1963. During this period, he executed several welfare schemes. 

Growth of Education:

                Kamaraj felt the indispensability of education towards the socio-economic welfare of the society. He established school in every nook and corner of Tamilnadu including villages and reformed the existing educational institutions. To remove the ignorance of people, he made education compulsory upto the age of eleven. To help the poor students free education, free uniform and free noon meal were introduced. This gave a golden opportunity to all the poor children to become literate. Since the funds for education were insufficient, he proposed to collect donations from well wishers and common people. For this purpose alone Kamaraj held 133 conferences and was able to collect six crores and 47 lakhs of rupees as donation. The whole amount was dedicated to the growth of education 46.1 lakhs students were privileged to learn in 10,000 primary schools. Moreover to encourage higher education, free education was introduced in the high schools also, Apart from this, technical colleges were started in every districts. Further more, two physical education colleges and ten teacher’s training colleges and 39 teachers training schools were established. In addition to this, two medical colleges and two engineering colleges were started by him. Arrangements were made to start a new university. But this was made possible only by Baktavatsalam, when he came to power. Hence arose the . The university was the result of the efforts of Kamaraj and hence called ‘’. Poor students who had their education in Medical colleges, engineering colleges and agricultural colleges were offered loans without interest for their education. Because of his efforts towards the improvement of educating among poor people, Kamaraj was praised to the “Kalvikanthiranthavar’.

Land reforms and Social welfare:

                Kamaraj implemented several constructive schemes to uplift the conditions of the downtrodden peasants in the society. He reorganized landlords protective act of Tanjore and made it possible for the peasants to get 60’/. of the land produce. He also passed Land Reform Act so that it could offer land to the landless peasants. His land reform act laid a ceiling to the land possessions of land lords and the surplus land was distributed to the landless. A family having five members could have 30 acres of land. Family having more than five members was permitted to own five acres of land to each member; but it should not exceed sixty acres. Moreover, the cultivating Tenants protection Act of 1995 protected the peasants from being squeezed by the landlords. Further more, the electrification scheme of villages and manor lands gave good result. Introduction of pumps held the first place in for the utility of electricity in cultivation and that increased the produce several time.

Growth of Industry:

                During the administration of Kamaraj in Tamilnadu industries developed considerably. As the individuals were encouraged to start new industries, Tamilnadu developed industrially with in a very short period. In addition to the individuals, the government had also started new industries. During his period, a photo film industry at Ooty with the investment of 12.96 crores and a heavy boiler industry at Trichy with 25.70 crores of rupees investment, a heavy industry at Avadi, Oil refinery industry at Manali, composed manure industry and atomic industry at Madras, Bhavani project and Kundala project were started. As a result of these industrial progresses Tamilnadu held the third place in for industrial growth.

The annexure of :

                Travancore Tamilnadu Congress President Nathaniel met Kamarj in connection with the annexure of South Travancore (present Kanyakumari Dist.) with . Kamaraj assured to do the needful to solve this problem. But when responsible government was announced in 1947, the long stand desire of the people of KK ended in disappointment. So people revolted and the police opened fire against them. After visiting the affected areas, Kamaraj promised to solve the problem legally. But the government of Travancore stood against this. He wanted to make negotiation among the two groups of people. As pattom Thanupilai did not participate in the negotiation talk no decision was reached. When the states were proposed to be reorganized on linguistic basis in 1953, solution to this problem was anticipated. But K.M Panicker, a member of the commission appointed for this purpose considered only the proposals of Patoom Thanupillai, but not the interests of the people in Kanyakumari Dist. it was the general feeling among the leaders and the people of KK dist. That Kamaraj had not shown much interest in solving this problem.

Kamaraj Plan:

                In the congress conference held at Buvanesvar in 1963 kamaraj was elected as the president of all India Congress. He showed deep interest in satisfying the needs of people an strengthening the party by conducting tours all over the lands. He also visited and other Eastern European countries to witness their industrial growth, so that they might be implemented in .

King maker:

                He was highly influential in state and central congress party. He was the cause fo the elevation of several people. As far as Tamilnadu is concerned Prakasam, Panthalu, Ramaswamy Reddiyar, Kumaraswamy Raja and Rajagobalachi got themselves elevated to higher posts only because of Kamaraj. In the centre, he was responsible for the unopposed selection of Lal Bahadur Sastri as the Prime Minster of India, in the event of the political uncertainty after the death of Nehru. When Sastri died unexpectedly at Tashkant in 1966 it was Kamaraj who made Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister and brought about unity among the leaders. Hence, he was called the ‘King Maker’.

                Kamaraj set and example to the later administrators by his simplicity, straight forwardness, patriotism and eagerness in the welfare of the people. The present politicians expressed their desire in political stages to bring about the rule of Kamaraj once again just to set aside corruption and restlessness that are found in the to-day’s politics. Kamaraj who was at this zenith of fame died on October 2, 1975. when MISA was prevalent in . A memorial was erected at to honor the great personality, Kamaraj.