Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Not to be confused with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
File:Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam logo.png
Abbreviation	DMK
President	M. K. Stalin (CM of Tamil Nadu)
General Secretary	Durai Murugan
Parliamentary Chairperson	T. R. Baalu
Lok Sabha leader	T. R. Baalu
Rajya Sabha leader	Tiruchi Siva
Founder	C. N. Annadurai (Former CM of Tamil Nadu)
Founded	17 September 1949 (1949-09-17)
Split from	Dravidar Kazhagam
Preceded by	Justice Party (1917–1944) Dravidar Kazhagam (1944–1949)
Headquarters	Anna Arivalayam, 367 & 369, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Chennai - 600018, Tamil Nadu, India
Newspaper	Dinakaran (Daily journal) Murasoli (Daily journal) The Rising Sun (Weekly journal) Kalaignar TV (TV channel)
Student wing	DMK Manavar Ani
Youth wing	DMK Ilaignar Ani
Women's wing	DMK Magalir Ani
Labour wing	Labour Progressive Federation (LPF)
Ideology	Social democracy Dravidianism Social justice
Political position	Centre-left
Colours	Template:Coloursample Black Template:Coloursample Red
ECI Status	State Party
Alliance	Alliances 1) DMK Alliance : (1957–1967) (1967–1971), (1971–1980), (1982–1984), (1996–1999) (DPA) : (2006–2009) & (2014–2016) (SPA) : (2021–Present) Central Party Alliance 2) Congress Party Alliance : (1971–1976 Central Alliance) & (1980–1982) (UPA) : (2004–2013) & (2016–Continue Alliance) 3) Janata Party Alliance : (1977–1980 Central Alliance) & (1984–1988) 4) Janata Dal Alliance NF : (1988–1996) UF : (1996–1998 Central Alliance) 5) Bharatiya Janata Party - (NDA) : (1999–2004)
Seats in Lok Sabha	24 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha	10 / 245
Seats in	Indian states 125 / 234 (Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly) 6 / 33 (Puducherry Legislative Assembly)
Number of states and union territories in government	1 / 31
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
www.dmk.in
Politics of India Political parties Elections

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (transl. Dravidian Progressive Federation, DMK) is a social-democratic and Dravidianist political party in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry.It is the 3rd largest political party in Lok Sabha after BJP and INC.It is also one of the two main political parties in Tamil Nadu, along with the rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Since the 2021 state election, it has been the ruling party of Tamil Nadu.

The DMK was founded in 1949 by C. N. Annadurai as a breakaway faction from the Dravidar Kazhagam (also known as Justice Party until 1944), which was headed by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. It was headed by Annadurai (as the Secretary-General) from 1949 until his death on 3 February 1969. He also served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 1967 to 1969. Under Annadurai, in 1967, DMK became the first party, other than the Indian National Congress, to win the state-level elections with a clear majority on its own in any state in India. M. Karunanidhi followed Annadurai as the first president of the party from 1969 until his death on 7 August 2018. He also served as the Chief Minister for five non-consecutive terms, in two of which he was dismissed by the central government. After Karunanidhi's death, his son and former deputy, M. K. Stalin, succeeded his as party president.

At the federal level, the DMK is part of the United Progressive Alliance and is the third-largest party in the Lok Sabha. It currently holds 125 seats in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, and the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance holds 159.

History

Origins and foundation

The DMK traces its roots to the South Indian Liberal Federation (Justice Party) founded by Dr C. Natesa Mudaliar in 1916, in the presence of P. Thyagaraya Chetty, Dr P.T. Rajan, Dr T. M. Nair, Dr Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar and a few others in Victoria Public Hall Madras Presidency. The Justice Party, whose objectives included social equality and justice, came to power in the first general elections to the Madras Presidency in 1920. Communal division between Brahmins and non-Brahmin upper castes began in the presidency during the late-19th and early-20th century, mainly due to caste prejudices and disproportionate Brahminical representation in government jobs. The Justice Party's foundation marked the culmination of several efforts to establish an organization to represent the non-Brahmin upper castes in Madras and is seen as the start of the Dravidian Movement.

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, a popular Tamil reformist leader of the time, had joined Indian National Congress in 1919, to oppose what he considered the Brahminic leadership of the party. Periyar's participation at the Vaikom Satyagraha led him to start the Self-Respect Movement in 1926 which was rationalistic and "anti-Brahministic". He quit Congress and in 1935 he joined the Justice Party.

In the 1937 elections, the Justice Party lost and the Indian National Congress under C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) came to power in Madras Presidency. Rajaji's introduction of Hindi as a compulsory subject in schools led to the anti-Hindi agitations, led by Periyar and his associates.

In August 1944, Periyar created the 'Dravidar Kazhagam' out of the Justice Party and the Self-Respect Movement at the Salem Provincial Conference. The DK, conceived as a movement and not a political party, insisted on an independent nation for Dravidians called Dravida Nadu consisting of areas that were covered under the Madras Presidency.

The party at its inception retained the flag of the South Indian Liberal Federation, which had a picture of a traditional type of balance signifying the idea of equality. Its central theme was to remove the degraded status imposed on Dravidians. To communicate this, the party adopted a black flag with a red circle inside it, with the black signifying their degradation and the red denoting the intention of the movement to uplift Dravidians.

Over the years, many disagreements arose between Periyar and his followers. In 1949, several of his followers led by C. N. Annadurai decided to split from Dravidar Kazhagam, after an aged Periyar married a young woman Maniammai and appointed her to act as his successor to lead the party, superseding senior party leaders. Until then, E. V. K. Sampath, the nephew of Periyar, was considered his political heir.

The Dravidian philosophy culminated both politically and socially with DMK at the helm of administration. It was the first-ever subaltern movement in the history of sub-continent politics to have political representation from former lower-castes, and it was a marked move from generations of civic administrators from the upper-caste citizenry. This had a deep societal impact which resulted in increased political participation, which aided the representation of the emergent strata, enriched civic life, and subsequently strengthened the pluralist democracy.

C. N. Annadurai era (17 September 1949 – 3 February 1969)

C. N. Annadurai, Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

The DMK's first foray into electoral politics, in the 1957 legislative assembly elections, was mixed. While it won 15 seats, many prominent leaders such as Annadurai and V. R. Nedunchezhiyan were defeated. It fared somewhat better in 1962, winning 50 seats and becoming the main opposition.

Anti-Hindi Imposition agitations

See also: Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu

The DMK, which split from the Dravidar Kazhagam in 1949, inherited the anti-Hindi Imposition policies of its parent organization. Founder C.N. Annadurai had earlier participated in the anti-Hindi imposition agitations during 1938–40 and throughout the 1940s.

In July 1953, the DMK launched an agitation against the Union government's proposed name-change of Kallakudi to Dalmiapuram. They claimed that the town's propsoed new name (after Ramkrishna Dalmia) symbolized the exploitation of South India by the North. On 15 July, M. Karunanidhi (later Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu) and other DMK members removed the Hindi name from Dalmiapuram railway station's name board and protested on the tracks. In the altercation with the police that followed the protests, two DMK members lost their lives, and several others, including Karunanidhi and Kannadasan, were arrested.

The DMK continued its anti-Hindi Imposition policies throughout the 1950s, along with the secessionist demand for Dravida Nadu, in which it was originally more radical than the Dravida Kazhagam. On 28 January 1956, Annadurai, along with Periyar and Rajaji, signed a resolution passed by the Academy of Tamil Culture endorsing the continuation of English as the official language. On 21 September 1957, the DMK convened an anti-Hindi Conference to protest against the imposition of Hindi. It observed 13 October 1957 as "anti-Hindi Day".

On 31 July 1960, another open air anti-Hindi conference was held in Kodambakkam, Madras. In November 1963, DMK dropped its secessionist demand in the wake of the Sino-Indian War and the passage of the anti-secessionist 16th Amendment to the Indian Constitution. However, the anti-Hindi stance remained and hardened with the passage of Official Languages Act of 1963. The DMK's view on Hindi's eligibility for official language status were reflected in Annadurai's response to the "numerical superiority of Hindi" argument: "If we had to accept the principle of numerical superiority while selecting our national bird, the choice would have fallen not on the peacock but on the common crow."

Formation of State Government

In 1967, DMK came to power in the Madras province 18 years after its formation and 10 years after it had first entered electoral politics. This began the Dravidian era in the Madras province, which later became Tamil Nadu. In 1967, the Congress lost nine states to opposition parties, but it was only in Madras that a single non-Congress Party (namely, the DMK) won a majority. The electoral victory of 1967 is also reputed to be an electoral fusion among the non-Congress parties to avoid a split in the Opposition votes. Rajagopalachari, a former senior leader of the Congress Party, had by then left the Congress and launched the right-wing Swatantra Party. He played a vital role in bringing about the electoral fusion amongst the opposition parties to align against the Congress. At that time, his cabinet was the youngest in the country.

Other achievements

Annadurai legalised self-respect marriages for the first time the country. Such marriages did not involve priests presiding over the ceremonies, and thus a Brahmin was not needed to carry out the wedding. Self-respect marriages were a brainchild of Periyar, who regarded the then conventional marriages as mere financial arrangements which often led to great debt through dowry. Self-respect marriages, according to him, encouraged inter-caste marriages and caused arranged marriages to be replaced by love marriages.

Annadurai was also the first to promise to subsidize the price of rice in order to campaign for his election. He promised one rupee a measure of rice, which he initially implemented once in government, but had to withdraw later. Subsidising rice costs are still used as an election promise in Tamil Nadu.

It was Annadurai's government that renamed Madras State to Tamil Nadu, its present day name. The name change itself was first presented in the upper house (Rajya Sabha) of the Parliament of India by Bhupesh Gupta, a communist MP from West Bengal, but was then defeated. With Annadurai as chief minister, the state assembly succeeded in passing the bill renaming the state. Another major achievement of Annadurai's government was to introduce a two language policy over the then popular three language formula. The three language formula, which was implemented in the neighbouring states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, entitled students to study three languages: the regional language, English and Hindi.

Karunanidhi's leadership (1969–2018)

In 1969, Annadurai unexpectedly died. M. Karunanidhi was elected as his successor, defeating rival candidate V. R. Nedunchezhiyan. Karunanidhi would continue to head the DMK until his own death in 2018.

1972 split

In the 1970s, M. G. Ramachandran (M.G.R.), a popular actor and the party treasurer, resulting in a political feud between M.G.R. and the party president Karunanidhi. In 1972, M.G.R. called for a boycott of the party's General Council. The crisis led to a call for a corruption probe by M.G.R. where he was a treasurer, and he was eventually suspended from the General Council by the high power committee of DMK. He then created the new party named All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

Elections under Karunanidhi's presidency

• In 1977, DMK lost the Assembly elections to MGR's AIADMK, and stayed out of power in the state till 1989. After MGR's death in December 1987, AIADMK split into two factions between Janaki (MGR's wife) and Jayalalithaa. DMK returned to power in the 1989 State assembly elections and 3rd time Chife Minister Tamil Nadu Karunanidhi took over as chief minister in January 1989.
• The 1991 election was held with the backdrop of DMK government having dissolved within 2 years of formation due to pressure from ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi leading an alliance with Samajwadi Janata Party. In the same year Rajiv was killed by a suicide bomber during the election campaign, and due to DMK's pro-Tamil stance and the dismissal of the state government mid-campaign by Rajiv, attitudes were against DMK and instead in favor of the AIADMK–Congress alliance, causing the DMK to be deprived of any seats in the Parliament.
• In the 1996 state elections, DMK came to power on strength of corruption charges against J.Jayalalithaa and the alliance with Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), headed by G.K. Moopanar.
• However, in 2001, the AIADMK, on strength of a strong alliance and the incumbency factor against DMK, came back to power in the state assembly elections.
• In the 2004 parliamentary elections, DMK formed an alliance with Congress, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and swept a grand victory. The alliance won all 40 seats including Puducherry. This enabled DMK to hold 7 ministerial posts in the central government and gave influential power to DMK.
• Two years later in 2006, the same alliance won in the state assembly elections and the DMK, for the first time, formed a minority government in the state with help from Congress. M Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister of the state for the fifth time. The DMK-Congress alliance was also successful in the 2009 parliamentary elections.
• In the 2011 Assembly elections, held in the wake of the 2G case and allegations of nepotism, the DMK won only 23 seats, 127 seats less than earlier.
• In the 2014 Lok Sabha election DMK failed to win any seats; however, by vote percentage, it was second only to AIADMK.
• The 2016 state assembly elections gave DMK 89 MLAs. This was the most number for an opposition party in the history of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly.

M. K. Stalin’s leadership (2018–present)

Karunanidhi died on 7 August 2018, leaving the party in the hands of his son, M. K. Stalin. Stalin had been appointed as the working president in January 2017 when his father's health started declining, and had previously been named heir apparent by his father. Stalin thus became the second DMK president since the party's inception. On 3 February 2020, M. K. Stalin announced that Prashant Kishor was signed up as a party strategist for the upcoming 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.

M.K. Stalin calls on the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on 4 July 2007.

On 25 March 2018, the DMK held a statewide conference in Erode and M. K. Stalin released five slogans at the conference. They were:

1. Let's keep an eye on the Kalaignar's command
2. Let us grow and admire Tamil
3. Let's crush the power pile
4. Let us protect the humanity from extremism
5. Let us grow a prosperous Tamil Nadu

M.K. Stalin formed the Secular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu under the United Progressive Alliance in the centre and led the alliance in the 2019 general election. M.K. Stalin and his alliance in Tamil Nadu won 39 out of 40 seats in the parliament and 12 out of 21 in the Assembly with a 52% vote share. The DMK-led alliance won the 2019 Tamil Nadu local body elections under the Secular Progressive alliance.

The DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance won the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election. The alliance won 159 seats out of 234 seats with 46% vote share.

Party ideology

Dravidian nationalism

The Anti-Hindi Imposition agitations of 1965 forced the central government to abandon its efforts to use Hindi as the only official language of the country. However, Hindi usage has continued as Indian government employees are asked to write as much as 65% of the letters and memoranda in Hindi.

State autonomy

After The Emergency invoked by Indira Gandhi, more state powers like education and medical care were moved from state control to national control. At the state conference in Trichy after the death of C.N. Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi announced the adoption of the "state autonomy" principle to advocate for state self-governance. In April 1974, the DMK government brought in a resolution in the House urging the centre to accept the Rajamannar Committee recommendations on state autonomy and amend the Constitution of India to pave the way for a truly federal system.

Social justice

The DMK reconstituted the disabled persons welfare board to Differently Abled Persons Departments and the changed official terms for transgender individuals to more respectful terms like Thirunangai and Thirunambi.

Party symbol

The party's election symbol is the "sun rising from between two mountains", with a black and red flag often pictured. The symbol was inspired by the leader and scriptwriter M. Karunanidhi's 1950s play Udaya Suryan, and is intended to signify the "rising" spirit of the Dravidian people.

In the 1957 poll, the DMK was not recognized by the Election Commission. The party was grouped as independents and was not united by its rising sun symbol and was forced to contest under the rooster symbol.

Election history

Parliament General elections in Tamil Nadu

Year	Party leader	Seats won	Change in seats	Percentage of votes	Popular vote	Outcome
1957	C. N. Annadurai	8 / 41	9	–	–	Opposition
1962		7 / 41	1	18.64%	2,315,610	Opposition
1967		25 / 39	18	51.79%	7,996,264	Opposition
1971	M. Karunanidhi	23 / 39	2	55.61%	8,869,095	Government
1977		1 / 39	22	37.84%	6,758,517	Opposition/Central Government Alliance Support
1980		16 / 39	15	55.89%	10,290,515	Government
1984		2 / 39	14	37.04%	8,006,513	Opposition
1989		0 / 39	2	33.78%	8,918,905	Lost/Central Government Alliance Support
1991		0 / 39		27.64%	6,823,581	Lost
1996		17 / 39	17	54.96%	14,940,474	Government
1998		6 / 39	11	42.72%	10,937,809	Opposition
1999		12 / 39	6	46.41%	12,638,602	Government
2004		16 / 39	4	57.40%	16,483,390	Government
2009		18 / 39	2	42.54%	12,929,043	Government
2014		0 / 39	18	26.8%	10,243,767	Lost
2019	M. K. Stalin	24 / 39	24	52%	14,363,332	Opposition

Tamil Nadu Assembly election

Year	Party leader	Seats won	Change in seats	Percentage of votes	Popular vote	Outcome
1957	C. N. Annadurai	15 / 205	15	–	–	opposition
1962		50 / 205	37	27.10%	3,435,633	opposition
1967		137 / 234	87	40.69%	6,230,556	government
1971	M. Karunanidhi	184 / 234	47	48.58%	7,654,935	government
1977		48 / 234	136	24.89%	4,258,771	opposition
1980		37 / 234	11	22.1%	4,164,389	opposition
1984		24 / 234	13	29.3%	6,362,770	opposition
1989		150 / 234	116	37.89%	9,135,220	government
1991		2 / 234	148	22.5%	5,535,668	others
1996		173 / 234	171	53.77%	14,600,748	government
2001		31 / 234	142	30.90%	8,669,864	opposition
2006		96 / 234	65	26.50%	8,728,716	government
2011		23 / 234	73	22.40%	8,249,991	others
2016		89 / 234	66	31.39%	13,670,511	opposition
2021	M. K. Stalin	133 / 234	44	37.7%	1,74,30,179	government

Puducherry

Year	Election	Votes polled	Seats won
1974	3rd Assembly	47,823	2
1977	4th Assembly	30,441	3
1980	5th Assembly	68,030	14
1985	6th Assembly	87,754	5
1990	7th Assembly	101,127	9
1991	8th Assembly	96,607	4
1996	9th Assembly	105,392	7
2001	10th Assembly	83,679	7
2006	11th Assembly		7
2011	12th Assembly		3
2016	13th Assembly		2
2021	14th Assembly	154,858	6

Year	Election	Votes polled	Seats won
1984	8th Lok Sabha	97,672	0
1989	9th Lok Sabha	157,250	0
1991	10th Lok Sabha	140,313	0
1996	11th Lok Sabha	183,702	0
1998	12th Lok Sabha	168,122	1

List of presidents

S.No	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Tenure	Duration
1.		M. Karunanidhi (03/06/1924–07/08/2018)	27 July 1969 – 7 August 2018	49 years, 11 days
2.		M. K. Stalin (01/03/1953)	28 August 2018 – Incumbent	6 years, 275 days;

List of general secretaries

S.No	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Tenure	Duration
1.		C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969)	17 September 1949-1957 & 1963 – 3 February 1969	19 years, 139 days
2.	File:V.R. Nedunchezhiyan.jpg	V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (1920–2000)	1957-1962 & 4 February 1969 – 16 May 1977	8 years, 101 days
3.		K. Anbazhagan (1922–2020 )	17 May 1977 – 7 March 2020	42 years, 295 days
4.		Durai Murugan (1938–)	9 September 2020 – Incumbent	4 years, 263 days

List of chief ministers

Madras State

S.No	Name (birth–death)	Tenure	Days
1	C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969)	6 March 1967 – 13 January 1969	680 days (2–Year's)

Tamil Nadu

S.No	Name (birth–death)	Tenure	Days
1	C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969)	14 January 1969 – 3 February 1969	20 days (in total 700)
2	V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (acting chief minister) (1920–2000)	(4 February 1969 – 9 February 1969)	5 days
3	M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)	1. (10 February 1969 – 4 January 1971) 2. (15 March 1971 – 31 January 1976) 3. (27 January 1989 – 30 January 1991) 4. (13 May 1996 – 13 May 2001) 5. (13 May 2006 – 15 May 2011)	6863 days (19–Year's)
4	M. K. Stalin (1953–)	7 May 2021– Incumbent	(2021–Present)

Puducherry

S.No	Name	Tenure
1	M. O. H. Farook (1937–2012)	(17 March 1969 – 3 January 1974)
2	M. D. R. Ramachandran	(16 January 1980 – 24 June 1983) (8 March 1990 – 3 March 1991)
3	R. V. Janakiraman (1941–2019)	(26 May 1996 – 21 March 2000)

Current office bearers and prominent members

Member	Position in government	Party position
M. K. Stalin	Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Former Deputy Chief Minister and MLA from kolathur	President
Duraimurugan	Minister for Water Resources, MLA from Katpadi	General Secretary and Leader of House Tamil Nadu legislative Assembly
T. R. Baalu	Member of parliament (Lok Sabha) and Former Union Minister for ship and roadways	Treasurer and Party Lok Sabha Leader
K. N. Nehru	Minister for Municipal Administration, MLA from Tiruchirappalli West	Principal Secretary
R. S. Bharathi	Member of parliament (Rajya Sabha), Former Chairman of Alandur Municipality	Organization Secretary
I. Periyasamy	Minister for Co-operation, MLA from Aathoor	Deputy General Secretary
Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan	Former Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment	Deputy General Secretary
Anthiyur P. Selvaraj	Member of parliament, Former State Minister for Handloom	Deputy General Secretary
K. Ponmudy	Minister for Higher Education, MLA from Tirukkovilur	Deputy General Secretary
A. Raja	Member of parliament (Lok Sabha) and Former Union Minister	Deputy General Secretary
T. K. S. Elangovan	Member of parliament (Rajya Sabha)	Official Spokesperson
Kanimozhi Karunanidhi	Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Thoothukkudi Former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha	Women's wing Secretary and Party Lok Sabha Deputy Leader
Palanivel Thiyagarajan	Minister for Finance and Human Resource Management, MLA from Madurai Central	IT wing Seceratary
Udhayanidhi Stalin	Member of Legislative Assembly from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni	Youth wing Secretary
Karthikeya Sivasenapathy		Environment wing Secretary
T. R. B. Rajaa	Member of Legislative Assembly from Mannargudi	NRI Wing Secretary

List of union ministers

S.No	Name (birth–death)	Portfolio	Tenure	Prime Minister
1.	T. G. Venkatraman (1931– 2013)	Minister of Road Transport and Highways Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs	1 June 1996 – 19 March 1998 14 November 1997 10 December 1997	H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral
2.	Murasoli Maran (1934–2003)	Minister of Commerce and Industry Minister of Urban Development Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs	13 October 1999 – 9 November 2002 6 December 1989 10 November 1989 1 June 1996 – 19 March 1998	H. D. Dewe Gowda Atal Bihari Vajpayee V. P. Singh
3.	T. R. Baalu (1941–)	Minister of Road Transport and Highways Ministry of Shipping Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Non-Conventional Energy Sources Minister of State (Independent Charge) of New and Renewable Energy	22 May 2004 – 22 May 2009 13 October 1999 21 December 2003 10 January 1998– 18 March 1998 1996–1998	Manmohan Singh Atal Bihari Vajpayee H.D. Deve Gowda I.K. Gujral
4.	A. Raja (1963–)	Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Minister of State for Rural Development	16 May 2007 – 14 November 2010 23 May 2004 – 17 May 2007 30 September 2002 – 21 May 2004 13 October 1996 – 29 September 2000	H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral Atal Bihari Vajpayee Manmohan Singh
5.	Dayanidhi Maran (1966–)	Minister of Textiles Minister of Communications and Information Technology	28 May 2009 – 12 July 2011 22 May 2004 – 16 May 2007	Manmohan Singh
6.	S.S. Palanimanickam (1950–)	Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance	2004–2013
7.	S. Regupathy (1950–)	Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment and Forests	2004–2013
8.	K. Venkatapathy (1946–)	Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice	2004–2013
9.	Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan (1947–)	Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment	2004–2013
10.	V. Radhika Selvi (1976–)	Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs	2004–2013
11.	M. K. Alagiri (1951–)	Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers	13 June 2009 – 20 March 2013
12.	D. Nepoleon (1963–)	Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment	28 May 2009 – 20 March 2013
13.	M. Kannappan	Minister of State (Independent Charge) of New and Renewable Energy	13 October 1999 – 30 December 2003	Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Splits and offshoots

There are two major parties that have been formed as a result of splits from the DMK, such as

• All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) was founded on 17 October 1972 by M. G. Ramachandran.
• Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) was founded on 6 May 1994 by Vaiko.

Media

The DMK party runs two newspapers, one in English and one in Tamil, namely The Rising Sun (weekly journal) and Murasoli (daily), respectively.

Kalaignar TV is a channel started on 15 September 2007 and managed by Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and Dayalu Ammal, the daughter and wife of Karunanidhi. The sister channels of Kalaignar TV are Isaiaruvi (music channel), Seithigal (news channel), Sirippoli (comedy channel), Kalaignar Asia, and Chithiram (Tamil cartoon channel).

Controversies

Indira Gandhi dismissed the Karunanidhi government in 1976 based on charges of possible secession and corruption. The DMK government has been indicted by the Sarkaria commission for corruption in allotting tenders for the Veeranam drainage project.

Alleged connections with LTTE

The interim report of the Justice Jain Commission, which oversaw the investigation into Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, indicted Karunanidhi for abetting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The interim report recommended that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and the DMK party be held responsible for abetting Rajiv Gandhi's murderers. The final report contained no such allegations.

Allegations of nepotism

Karunanidhi's nephew, Murasoli Maran, was a Union Minister; however, it has been pointed out that he was in politics long before Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister in 1969.

Many political opponents and DMK party senior leaders have been critical of the rise of M. K. Stalin in the party. He was appointed as Mayor and later as Deputy CM of TN. But some of the party men have pointed out that Stalin has come up on his own.

Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi has been appointed as the Rajya Sabha MP. Karunanidhi's nephew's son Dayanidhi Maran has been appointed as the central Minister. Karunanidhi's son-in-law has been appointed as the central minister in the 2000s.

Karunanidhi's grandson, son of Stalin Udhayanidhi Stalin, has been appointed as the MLA of TN assembly.

Karunanidhi has been accused of helping Murasoli Maran's son Kalanidhi Maran, who runs Sun Network, India's second largest television network. According to Forbes, Kalanidhi is among India's richest 20, with $2.9 billion.

It has been pointed out that Karunanidhi has hesitated to take action against his erring family members.

Karunanidhi is also accused of allowing Azhagiri to function as an extraconstitutional authority in Madurai. The Dinakaran newspaper case was handed over to the CBI. But the District and Sessions court acquitted all the 17 accused in that case.

See also

• 2G spectrum case
• Granite scam in Tamil Nadu
• Controversy of arrests in Tamil Nadu about construction of flyovers
• Dinakaran attack
• Leelavathi murder
• Kallakudi demonstration
• Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

External links

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• Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam — entry at Encyclopædia Britannica