M. Karunanidhi: A civilisational imagination to secure plurality

Published : Jun 06, 2023 19:07 IST - 13 MINS READ In less than a decade, this is my third article for Frontline on M. Karunanidhi, former DMK president and elder statesman of the country. Some cultural scholars see this as a mere difference in approach to culture between the Central government since Independence and the DMK government after 1973, the year when Karunanidhi created the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Mandram. In my biography of Karunanidhi, I have written about the differences in approach between Periyar and Annadurai towards language and culture: “The duality of the Self-Respect movement emerges clearly during this phase. NSK was the movement’s Aristophanes, who was the greatest representative of ancient Greek comedy and the one whose works have been preserved the most, enabling us to understand that his comedy delivered more than the fabled Greek tragedies.” The role of the centralising forces to contain the democratic potential of the Self-Respect Movement gained currency in the post-colonial era. Our commission of these 10 statues gave a new fillip to the idea of public art in Tamil Nadu.” It is impossible to capture the full import of a creative political artist like Karunanidhi, who himself wrote more than 200,000 pages.