Karunanidhi’s birth centenary: DMK’s events to pitch for Oppn unity | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Karunanidhi’s birth centenary: DMK’s events to pitch for Oppn unity

Jun 03, 2023 01:02 AM IST

On June 20, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will inaugurate the “Kalaignar Kottam,” built in memory of Karunanidhi at his native town Tiruvarur.

Chennai: For the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, the birth date of five-time chief minister M Karunanidhi on June 3 is also an occasion to show opposition unity against the BJP-led Union government and push for social justice and autonomy of states. On Friday, former West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi unveiled the logo for year-long celebrations of Karunanidhi’s birth centenary , which could coincide with 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi with Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin during the centenary celebrations of former CM and DMK president M. Karunanidhi in Chennai on Friday. (ANI)
Former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi with Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin during the centenary celebrations of former CM and DMK president M. Karunanidhi in Chennai on Friday. (ANI)

On June 3, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, which includes the Congress, will mark the starting of the celebrations in Chennai, in which leaders from allied parties are expected to participate.

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On June 20, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will inaugurate the “Kalaignar Kottam,” built in memory of Karunanidhi at his native town Tiruvarur. Further, the DMK has formed a committee of senior leaders including Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Dayanidhi Maran, TKS Elangovan, A Raja, R S Bharathi and Trichy Siva, to advise the party on the year-long celebrations.

“The DMK is organising two political functions. Tomorrow, the leaders of all our alliance partners will come together,” said Bharathi. “We are also planning another major event which will be another gathering of opposition leaders in Tamil Nadu. But, we are yet to decide who we will be inviting. It will be a gala event like one of our major conferences. Besides that, the Tamil Nadu government will host a few events.”

Karunanidhi’s birthdays have always marked the gathering of the opposition. For instance, he was not present on his 94th birthday in 2017 due to illness, but Rahul Gandhi, Nitish Kumar, Omar Abdullah, Derek O’Brien, and Sitaram Yechury were present alongside Stalin and thousands of DMK cadre.

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party head and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann met Stalin in his Chennai residence on Thursday. They sought DMK’s support to oppose the ordinance that was brought up by the union government to taker over control of Delhi’s bureaucracy and its services and discussed how other states can be brought on board. “If this Bill is defeated in the Rajya Sabha, a very strong message will go all across the country, that the entire opposition has come together and may be in 2024, Modi government is not going to come back,” Kejriwal said in a joint press conference held in Chennai a day ago.

Standing beside Kejriwal, Stalin added that they had asked Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to change the date for a meeting slated for June 12 since he cannot participate, as he will be attending the opening of the Mettur dam’s sluice gates. DMK’s main ally Congress also cannot participate as Rahul Gandhi is abroad, Stalin added.

Stalin has been rallying for a united opposition since he formed the government in May 2021, which received an impetus with the gathering of non-BJP leaders during his 70th birthday on March 1. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejasvi Yadav had participated, vowing to take on the BJP as a united opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Stalin had then said that talks of a Third Front are pointless and all parties must shed their egos to come together to fight the BJP.

During the event on Friday, Stalin recalled that ‘Periyar’ E V Ramasamy (considered a father of the Dravidian movement), a cadre with the Congress before he started the self-respect movement. He explained the bond between their ideology with that of Mahatma Gandhi, adding that DMK founder C N Annadurai also respected Gandhi.

Gopal Krishna Gandhi recalled how Karunanidhi, though an atheist, wrote that he would pray for his political rival MG Ramachandran (MGR) whose health was deteriorating back in the 1980s. “That is the culture of public life when someone is ill in India,” said Gandhi.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Divya Chandrababu is an award-winning political and human rights journalist based in Chennai, India. Divya is presently Assistant Editor of the Hindustan Times where she covers Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. She started her career as a broadcast journalist at NDTV-Hindu where she anchored and wrote prime time news bulletins. Later, she covered politics, development, mental health, child and disability rights for The Times of India. Divya has been a journalism fellow for several programs including the Asia Journalism Fellowship at Singapore and the KAS Media Asia- The Caravan for narrative journalism. Divya has a master's in politics and international studies from the University of Warwick, UK. As an independent journalist Divya has written for Indian and foreign publications on domestic and international affairs.

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