M Karunanidhi’s unwavering fight for a casteless society

CHENNAI: When T Marichamy, a priest of Ayyappan temple in Madurai, called on DMK working president M K Stalin at Anna Arivalayam a few days ago, many wondered what a priest was doing at the headquarters of a party that stands for rationalism. Marichamy was there to thank Stalin for the role played by his father and president of the DMK, M Karunanidhi, who as chief minister had launched a scheme to train non-brahmins as temple priests in 2006.

Marichamy was among the 206 people from various castes who were trained for priesthood in Shaivite and Vaishnavite temples in 2007-08. It is such stories that will continue to surface for decades as products of seeds sown by Karunanidhi through his social justice movement, which some saw as casteist, but in reality was aimed at eliminating the pernicious caste system.
From abolition of hand-pulled rickshaws to the construction of slum tenements for Chennai’s economically weaker sections in the 1970s, Karunanidhi’s initiatives towards creating an inclusive society were apparent right from his first term as chief minister.
It began with self-respect marriages that were shorn of rituals, which he conducted together with his mentor Annadurai. It could be seen as a means to avoid priests, but the real intention was to promote inter-caste marriages. Later, the DMK government brought an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act to recognize self-respect marriages, apparently the first step towards a casteless social order that the Dravidian leaders had envisioned.
Though Kamaraj initiated reservation for the backward classes (BCs) through what was called the communal government order, it was Karunanidhi who was considered the champion of reservation for the BCs, the scheduled castes (SC) and the scheduled tribes (ST) after he became CM in 1969. Karunanidhi appointed A N Sattanathan as chairman of the Backward Classes Commission, on the basis of which reservation for BCs was increased from 25% to 31%, and hiked from 16% to 18% for SCs and STs, taking total reservation to 49%. He also did not approve of excluding the creamy layer or adopting an economic criterion while providing for reservations.
When the Vanniyar Sangam, the precursor to the Pattali Makkal Katchi, held agitations demanding separate reservation for the most backward castes (MBC), particularly Vanniyars, Karunanidhi in 1989 carved out a 20% quota for the MBCs and denotified communities within the 50% BC reservation. These efforts were part of his campaign for social justice, and to ameliorate the lot of the weaker and deprived sections, and not as an instrument to fan casteism. At the national level too he was at the forefront of the campaign for social justice, besides being instrumental in the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations.
Among his most definitive steps for people on the margins was the construction of Periyar Ninaivu Samathuvapuram (Periyar Memorial Equality Village) across Tamil Nadu. It was in tune with the DMK motto ‘Ezhaiyin Sirippil Iraivanai Kaanbom’ (We shall see God in the smile of the poor). The scheme provided for a housing complex where all communities could live without any discrimination. Karunanidhi thought of the scheme after caste clashes erupted between the thevars and dalits in the southern districts in 1997. Each equality village was to get 100 houses, subdivided into 40 houses for dalits, 25 for BCs, 25 for MBCs, and 10 for other communities. Though the scheme was given up in 2001 by the J Jayalalithaa government, it was revived by Karunanidhi in 2006.
Though Karunanidhi was seen to be running a campaign against brahmins, he maintained that he was against brahminism. His brahmin lawyers, auditors and doctors vouched that the DMK leader respected merit and talent. Karunanidhi always fought for a casteless society and did not hold any bias towards any caste or community.