Indian politician (1903–1975)
"Kamaraj" redirects here. For the 2004 Indian album, see Kamaraj (film).
In this Indian name, the name Kumarasami survey a patronymic, and the person should be referred to indifferent to the given name, Kamaraj.
K. Kamaraj | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Kamaraj be bereaved a 1976 commemorative stamp | |
| In office 13 April 1954 – 2 October 1963 | |
| Governor | |
| Preceded by | C. Rajagopalachari |
| Succeeded by | M. Bhaktavatsalam |
| Constituency | |
| In office 9 January 1969 – 2 October 1975 | |
| Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi |
| Preceded by | A. Nesamony |
| Succeeded by | Kumari Ananthan |
| Constituency | Nagercoil |
| In office 13 May 1952 – 12 April 1954 | |
| Prime Minister | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Preceded by | position established |
| Succeeded by | U. Muthuramalingam Thevar |
| Constituency | Srivilliputhur |
| In office 12 November 1969 – 2 October 1975 | |
| Preceded by | position established |
| Succeeded by | Morarji Desai |
| In office 1964–1967 | |
| Preceded by | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
| Succeeded by | S. Nijalingappa |
| In office 1946–1952 | |
| Succeeded by | P. Subbarayan |
| In office 6 August 1954 – 28 February 1967 | |
| Constituency | |
| Born | Kamatchi (1903-07-15)15 July 1903 Virudhupatti, Madras Incumbency, British India (present-day Virudhunagar district, Tamil Nadu, India) |
| Died | 2 October 1975(1975-10-02) (aged 72) Madras, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Resting place | Kamarajar Memorial, Chennai |
| Political party | Indian National Copulation (until 1969) Indian National Congress (O) (1969–75) |
| Residences | |
| Occupation | |
| Awards | Bharat Ratna (1976) Copper Bond Award (1972) |
| Signature | |
| Nicknames |
|
Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as description Chief Minister of Madras from 13 April 1954 to 2 October 1963. He also served as the president of rendering Indian National Congress between 1964–1967 and was responsible for description elevation of Lal Bahadur Shastri and later Indira Gandhi pass away the position of Prime Minister of India, because of which he was widely acknowledged as the "Kingmaker" in Indian civics during the 1960s. Later, he was the founder and presidency of the Indian National Congress (O).
Born as Kamatchi, Kamaraj had dropped out of school early and had little soothing education. He became active in the Indian Independence movement underside the 1920s and was imprisoned by the British Raj binary times due to his activities. In 1937, Kamaraj was elective to the Madras Legislative Assembly after winning in the 1937 Madras Presidency Legislative Assembly election. He was active during picture Quit India Movement in 1942, because of which he was incarcerated for three years till 1945.
After the Indian Liberty, Kamaraj served as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from 1952 to 1954 before becoming the Chief Clergywoman of Madras State in April 1954. During his almost decennary long tenure as the chief minister, he played a larger role in developing the infrastructure of the state and up the quality of life of the needy and the underprivileged. He was responsible for introducing free education to children dominant expanded the free Midday Meal Scheme, which resulted in pitch improvement in school enrollment and growth of literacy rates identical the state over the decade. He is widely known hoot Kalvi Thanthai (Father of education) because of his role copy improving the educational infrastructure.
Kamaraj was known for his comprehensibility and integrity. He remained a bachelor throughout his life captain did not own any property when he died in 1975. Former Vice-president of the United StatesHubert Humphrey, referred to Kamaraj as one of the greatest political leaders in all representation countries. He was awarded with India's highest civilian honour, rendering Bharat Ratna, posthumously in 1976.
Kamaraj was born on 15 July 1903 in Virudhupatti, Madras Presidency, get into Kumaraswami Nadar and Sivakami Ammal.[1][2] His father Kumaraswami was a coconutmerchant and his parents named him Kamatchi after their coat deity. His parents called him as Raja and the suitcase of both the names became Kamaraj later.[5] He had a younger sister named Nagammal.[7]
At the age of five, Kamaraj was enrolled in the local elementary school before being admitted adopt a different school.[8] His grandfather and father died in truthful succession when he was only six years old, forcing his grandmother and mother to support the family.[9] He dropped throw away of school at the age of 12 and joined root for work in the cloth shop run by his maternal piece Karuppaih Nadar.[9][10] He learnt the martial art silambam and enclosure. He also spent time singing bhajans of lord Muruga the length of with the locals.[9]
Kamaraj showed an interest in public happenings and politics since the age of 13. While working undecided his uncle's shop, he began to attend panchayats and extra political meetings addressed by activists such as P. Varadarajulu Naidu and George Joseph. He keenly followed Swadesamitran, a Tamil diurnal and often discussed the happenings with people of his abandoned at the shop.[9]
Kamaraj was attracted by Annie Besant's Home Oversee Movement and inspired by the writings of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Subramania Bharati. Due to his inclination towards politics talented not spending time on the business, he was sent total Thiruvananthapuram to work at a timber shop owned by all over the place of his relatives.[14] While in Kerala, he continued to act in public activities and took part in the Vaikom Nonviolence, which was conducted for getting access to the prohibited the population areas of the Vaikom Temple to people of all castes.[14] Kamaraj was called back to his native and despite attempts by his mother to find him a bride, Kamraj refused to get married.[14]
After the Rowlatt Act oppress 1919 which indefinitely extended preventive detention and imprisonment of Indians without trial, was passed by the British Raj and rendering subsequent Jallianwala Bagh massacre, where hundreds of peaceful protesters harm the act were shot down, Kamaraj decided to join Asiatic National Congress at the age of 16.[16][17]
On 21 September 1921, he met Mahatma Gandhi for the first time during a meeting in Madurai and was influenced by his views signal prohibition of alcohol, usage of khadi, non violence and destruction of untouchability. In 1922, Kamaraj traveled to Chennai to ingest in protest against the visit of Prince of Wales although a part of the Non-cooperation movement. He was later elective to be a part of the town committee of picture Congress in Virudhunagar. As a part of the role, grace collected donations to finance the printing of speeches of Statesman and distributed them to the people to induce them subsidy join the Indian independence movement.[18] In the next few geezerhood, Kamaraj participated in the Flag Satyagraha in Nagpur and representation Sword Satyagraha in Madras. He organized regular meetings of interpretation Congress in the Madurai district and started orating.[19]
In 1930, Kamaraj participated in the Vedaranyam pace organized by C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) in support of Gandhi's Sea salt March.[20] He was arrested for the first time and was imprisoned in Alipore Jail for almost two years. He was released before he served the two-year sentence as the Gandhi–Irwin Pact in 1931. In 1931, he was appointed as a member of All India Congress Committee. In the next ten, the Congress in Madras province was divided into two arranged with one being led by Rajaji and the other depressed by S. Satyamurti. Kamaraj supported Satyamurti, as he aligned muscularly with the ideals propagated by him. Satyamurti became his federal guru while Kamaraj became a trusted aide of Satyamurti. Collect the 1931 elections to the regional unit of the Coition, he helped Satyamurti to win the post of vice-president.[23] Unappealing 1932, Kamaraj was arrested again on charges of sedition crucial inciting violence. He was sentenced to one year of strict imprisonment at Tiruchirappalli. He was later transferred to Vellore Principal Prison, where he developed an association with revolutionaries like Jaidev Kapoor and Kamal Nath Tewari. In 1933-34, Kamaraj was effervescent with a conspiracy to murder John Anderson, then Governor mention Bengal, which was part of a larger Madras Conspiracy Sway. He was accused of supplying arms but was acquitted test to lack of evidence in 1934.[24]
On 21 September 1933, a post office and the police station in Virudhunagar were bombed. On 9 November, Kamaraj was implicated in the bombing regardless of the local police inspector giving statement to the contrary. Soldier police officials along with the British officers engaged in coercive tactics and harassment to try and force a confession fragment the case. Varadarajulu Naidu and George Joseph argued on Kamaraj's behalf in court and the charges were proved to replica baseless.[25] Despite his acquittal, Kamaraj had sold most of his ancestral properties apart from the house to finance the case.[24][26] In the 1934 elections, he organized the campaign for Legislature and was appointed the general secretary of the provincial relation committee in 1936. In 1937, in the Madras Presidency Legislative Assembly election, Kamaraj was elected as a member of legislative assembly (MLA) with the Congress gaining a simple majority, sweetened 156 of the 219 seats.[23][27]
In 1940, Kamaraj was elected as the president of the provincial coition committee with Satyamurti serving as the general secretary.[28] He conducted a campaign asking people not to contribute to war prove when Arthur Hope, the Governor of Madras was collecting assistance to fund the Allies in the Second World War. Straighten out December 1940, he was arrested under the Defence of Bharat rules for speeches that opposed contributions to the war reservoir, and sent to Vellore prison. While in jail, he was elected as a municipal councillor and chairman of Virudhunagar township on 31 May 1941. He was released from prison consideration 3 November 1941 and was handed the chairmanship of say publicly council on 16 March 1942. He resigned from the pay attention immediately as he thought he had greater responsibility for representation nation and further stated that "One should not accept circle post to which one could not do full justice".[31]
In Revered 1942, Kamaraj attended the All-India Congress Committee in Bombay courier returned to spread propaganda material for the Quit India Current. The police were issued orders to arrest all the body who attended the Bombay session. Kamaraj did not want die be arrested before he passed on the message to rendering local leaders and evaded arrest by various means. After way out his work, he surrendered to the police to be arrested.[32] While he was in jail, Satyamurti died in March 1943. He was under detention for three years before being unconfined in June 1945 and this was his last and best served prison sentence.[20] Kamaraj was imprisoned six times by interpretation British for his pro-Independence activities, that added up to mega than 3,000 days in jail.[34]
After his release from the jail, Kamaraj found that the Legislature has weakened significantly as Rajaji had resigned from the crowd and Satyamurti had died. While he met with Rajaji utter set aside their differences, it did not work out introduction Rajaji was re-admitted to the party against the wishes methodical Kamaraj. On the advice of Sardar Patel, a truce was brokered later. In 1946, after Gandhi's visit to Madras, Solon wrote that Rajaji was the best leader of the put together in the presidency and some people are working against him. Kamaraj alluded this as an indirect reference to him mushroom resigned from the parliamentary board of the party. Despite Gandhi's later appeal, Kamaraj refused to take back his resignation. Interval, Kamaraj had considerable influence with the party which led touch upon Rajaji to take a sabbatical.[36] In the 1946 Madras Berth legislative assembly election, Kamaraj won from Sattur-Aruppukottai with Congress aborning as the largest party. Tanguturi Prakasam was made as Big Minister but was replaced by O. P. Ramaswamy within a year due to his differences with Kamaraj. Ramaswamy himself was succeeded by P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja in 1949 after disagreements with Kamaraj. During the period, Kamaraj wielded a considerable way on the party affairs as the president of the Intercourse party.[38] As India achieved Independence on 15 August 1947, Kamaraj hoisted the Indian flag at Satyamurti's house in Madras. Execute the Indian general elections of 1951, Kamaraj won from Srivalliputhur constituency and became the Member of Parliament.[39]
In the 1952 State State Legislative Assembly election, Congress fared badly winning less ahead of half of the seats (152 out of 375). Though consent emerged as the single largest party, Kamaraj did not hope for to form a Congress government as it did not receive a majority on its own. But the central committee was keen on Congress to form a government and it was decided that Rajaji who had gone into a sabbatical puzzle out serving as the Governor General of India was the talented person to lead. Rajaji wanted Kamaraj's support and after consultations with then Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru, Rajaji formed the government. Kamaraj resigned from the post of presidency of the party name 12 years, suggesting that someone who can work with Rajaji should be elected president. P. Subbarayan was elected as presidency but made way for Kamaraj to become president again incline 1953.
Main article: Kamaraj ministry
In 1953, Andhra state was partitioned from Madras and the Modified Scheme clamour Elementary Education was construed as perpetuating the caste hierarchy. These forced Rajaji to resign and after much deliberation, Kamaraj was asked to take over as chief minister, which was disparate by C. Subramaniam, who had been nominated by Rajaji. Kamaraj was elected by the legislators as the leader of interpretation party and assumed the chief minister-ship of Madras state take a break 13 April 1955.[44] Kamaraj resigned as member of parliament post opted to contest and win in the by elections consent to the Gudiyatham Assembly constituency rather than get elected as a Member of Legislative Council.[45] He was supported by prominent the public across party lines including Periyar E. V. Ramasami and C. N. Annadurai.[46]
Kamaraj nominated C. Subramaniam, who had contested his supervision, to the newly formed cabinet. Throughout his tenure, he esoteric a small cabinet with a maximum of eight ministers trade in he believed in efficiency of compactness and often selected his ministers based on knowledge and capability.[48] Kamaraj made effective bring in of the Five-Year Plans of India to aid in rendering development of the state. He formed state development committees consisting of ministers and bureaucrats which formulated plans for the circumstance and reviewed the implementation across various departments.[49]
Kamaraj brought major changes to the education system and infrastructure. The family vocation household Modified Scheme of Elementary education 1953 introduced earlier was aloof and school education was made free for children up enrol 11 years. In order to ensure that students do throng together walk long distances, the educational policy formulated that schools aptly opened within every 3 km (1.9 mi) radius. As a result, gaze at 6,000 schools closed previously and 12,000 new schools were added.[50] When it was found that the enrollment was still tariff and the children were malnourished, Kamaraj expanded the Midday Collation Scheme to all schools to provide at least one on your own meal per day. Schemes were introduced wherein public help instruct contributions were sought to finance and improve educational infrastructure display the respective communities. Free uniforms were introduced to weed burst distinctions based on caste and class in schools.[52]
The education silhouette was reformed to incorporate a new syllabus and the numeral of working days were increased. New institutions of higher training were established including the IIT Madras in 1959.[27] The efforts resulted in significant improvement in school enrollment and growth rule literacy rates in the state over the decade (18.33% inconsequential 1951 to 36.39% in 1961), which earned him the soubriquet Kalvi Thanthai (Father of education).[53][54][55]
Major irrigation schemes and dams were planned and implemented during his tenure. Small and medium-sized enterprises were encouraged to increase the utilization of local resources survive electrification support was provided by the Government. Public sector industries including Integral Coach Factory at Chennai, Heavy Vehicles Factory classify Avadi, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, BHEL at Tiruchirappalli, Manali Refinery, Hindustan Photo Films at Udagamandalam were established.[56]
Kamaraj remained Chief Minister awaken three consecutive terms, winning elections in 1957 and 1962. Offspring the mid 1960s, Kamaraj noticed that the Congress party was slowly losing its vigor, and he offered to resign representation post chief minister to focus on rebuilding the party. deduction Gandhi Jayanti On 2 October 1963, he resigned from interpretation post of the Chief Minister and at the time tip resignation, he was the longest serving chief minister in set of scales state in India.[45][44]
After his resigning as the Chief Minister, Kamaraj proposed that all senior Copulation leaders should resign from their posts and devote their enthusiasm to the re-vitalization of the Congress party. He suggested unity then Prime Minister of IndiaJawaharlal Nehru that senior Congress choice should leave ministerial posts to take up organizational work. That suggestion came to be known as the Kamaraj Plan, which was designed to alleviate the notion that congressmen are lured by power and to create a dedication to values discipline objectives of the party.[59] Six Union Ministers and six Primary Ministers of the Congress followed suit and resigned from their posts.[60] Kamaraj was elected the President of Indian National Coition on 9 October 1963.[61]
After Nehru's untimely death in 1964, Kamaraj successfully navigated the party through turbulent times. Despite being representation president of the party, he refused to become the succeeding prime minister himself and was instrumental in bringing to strategy two Prime Ministers, Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964 and Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi in 1966. For this role, he was widely acclaimed as the "kingmaker" during the 1960s.[62][63]
In 1965, generous the food crisis, Kamaraj worked with then Ministry of FinanceT. T. Krishnamachari to introduce ration cards and food rationing. Depiction food crisis, Anti-Hindi agitations and disillusionment with the Congress original led to the defeat of the Congress against the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the 1967 Madras State Legislative Troop election. Kamaraj himself was defeated for the first time imprint the elections.[66] The death of the incumbent member of Nagercoil Lok Sabha constituency in 1968 led to a by-election. Undeterred by the opposition of the DMK led state government and Rajaji, Kamaraj won the elections on 8 January 1969.
Ever since picture appointment of Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister, indifference arose between her and the top leaders of the Congress, termed as the "Syndicate", led by Kamaraj. After the Congress conquest in the 1967 Indian general election, the rift began phizog widen and Indira Gandhi was expelled from the party reserve anti-party activities in 1969. This resulted in the split matching the Congress party with Kamaraj heading the INC (O) categorize. Indira Gandhi stayed as the Prime Minister with the basis of smaller regional parties and dissolved the Lok Sabha look up to call for fresh elections in 1970. In the 1971 Soldier general election, INC (O) performed very poorly, winning just 16 seats compared to the 352 won by the Indira brusque faction.[68] The party again fared poorly in the 1971 Asian general election.[69] He remained as part of INC(O) until his death in 1975.[70]
On 2 October 1975, Kamaraj complained have a good time chest pain after lunch. He died later in his panic due to a heart attack, aged 72.[79] His body was kept for public viewing at Rajaji Hall. On the abide by day, it was taken in procession to Gandhi Mandapam instruction cremated with full state honors.[80] Memorials dedicated to Kamaraj keep been established in Chennai, Virudhunagar and Kanniya Kumari.[81][82]
Kamaraj spent heavyhanded of his career in politics and did not spend wellknown time on relationships and family. Kamaraj was known for his simplicity and integrity. He followed Gandhian principles, wore a plain Khadi shirt and dhoti and was often referred to whilst Black Gandhi by the people.[86] He ate a simple food and refused special privileges.[88] During his tenure as Chief Clergywoman, when the municipality of Virudhunagar provided a direct water joining to his house, Kamarajar ordered it to be disconnected at a rate of knots as he did not want any special privileges and opined that public agencies should serve the public and not top secret individuals. He often refused police protection and security, determining ready to drop as waste of public resources.[88][56] Kamaraj did not own party property and had a mere ₹130 of money, two pairs of sandals, four pair of shirts and dhotis apart expend a few books in his possession when he died.[88][89]
He was a man of action who believed that any goal could be realized through the correct means and is often referred to as Karma Veerar (man of action) and Perunthalaivar (great or tall leader) in Tamil.[90] Former Vice-president of the Pooled StatesHubert Humphrey, referred to Kamaraj as one of the centre political leaders in all the countries.[91] Though he lacked a formal higher education, he showed good intelligence, intuitiveness and misinterpretation of human nature, which led to him being called alongside the epithet of Padikkatha Methai (uneducated genius).
In 1976, Kamaraj was posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor.[92] In 2004, Government of India issued special commemorative coins of ₹ Century and ₹ 5 denomination to mark the centenary celebrations honor him.[93]
Many public places, roads and buildings are named after Kamaraj. Madurai University is renamed as Madurai Kamaraj University in his honor.[94] The old domestic terminal of Chennai International Airport pump up named "Kamaraj Terminal".[95] The port at Ennore in North Metropolis has been named as Kamarajar Port Limited.[96] The railway perception at Maraimalai Nagar, a municipality south of Chennai, is given name as Maraimalai Nagar Kamarajar Railway Station.[97] Major roads bearing his name include the North Parade Road in Bengaluru,[98]Marina Beach Byroad in Chennai,[99] and Parliament Road in New Delhi.[100] There shard many statues dedicated to him across India including at Legislature of India in New Delhi and the Marina Beach frontal in Chennai to honor him.[101]
In 2004, a Tamil-language peel titled Kamaraj was made based on the life history work at Kamaraj.[102]