The long political career of former president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) Kumari Ananthan, who passed away in the early hours of Wednesday (April 9, 2025), was marked, among others, by his association with former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj; his passion for the Tamil language; pursuit of certain rare demands; and exit from the Congress on a few occasions.
Born in Agatheesvaram of Kanniyakumari district on March 19, 1933, Mr. Ananthan, who held double post-graduate degrees in political science and Tamil, began his career as an associate of Kamaraj and joined the Congress party in 1954. When the Congress party split in 1969, he aligned himself with the Congress (Organisation), which was led by Kamaraj. In the 1971 Assembly election, he contested unsuccessfully on the Congress (O) ticket from Washermenpet, a constituency in north Chennai which has since been abolished. By then, he had become general secretary of the State unit.
When a faction led by G.K. Moopanar merged itself with the Congress led by Indira Gandhi five years later, Mr. Ananthan stayed back in the Congress (O). “During the Emergency, he was imprisoned, as his party was in the Opposition. It was then that his first daughter, Tamilisai, as a schoolgirl, arranged for the hospitalisation of her mother, who developed labour pain,” recalls P. Soundararajan, a leading nephrologist and husband of Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, senior leader of the BJP and former Telengana Governor and Puducherry Lt. Governor.
When the country went to the Lok Sabha poll in March 1977, the Congress (O) was subsumed into the Janata Party and Mr. Ananthan emerged successful in Nagercoil. At that time, the Janata was a constituent of the front led by the DMK. Though Mr. Ananthan was made general secretary of the State unit of the Janata, his differences with P. Ramachandran, who was Union Minister for Energy in the Janata regime, led to his exit from the party, and in June 1978, he founded the Gandhi Kamaraj National Congress (GKNC).
Push for Tamil in Parliament
As a parliamentarian, he persistently followed up with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha regarding his request to speak in Tamil. Eventually, his demand was accepted. Likewise, he had sought priority for Tamil at Central government offices in the State, including the use of Tamil in money order forms issued at post offices, another demand of his which was also accepted. It was thanks to his relentless campaign that the Railways authorities named the Maniyachi junction in Thoothukudi district after Vanchinathan of Shencottah, who assassinated the then Tirunelveli Collector and District Magistrate Robert William D’ Escourt Ashe in June 1911.
In the 1980 Lok Sabha election, he contested in the now-defunct Tiruchendur constituency as an Independent and retained deposit, even though he finished third. Subsequently, his party, as a constituent of the AIADMK-led coalition, won six out of the 10 seats it contested in the Assembly poll that year. Mr. Ananthan, for the first time, entered the Assembly from Thiruvottriyur. Four years later, it won two seats in the Assembly. This time, he was elected to the House. In March 1987, the GKNC merged itself with the Congress. Two years later, Mr. Ananthan returned to the Assembly from Sattankulam as the Congress nominee. In 1991 too, he was elected from the constituency.
When the Congress leadership chose to remove Vazhapadi K. Ramamurthy from the post of TNCC chief in January 1995, its choice fell on Mr. Ananthan, who had, by then, emerged as a key member of the faction led by Moopanar. But, a year later, Moopanar quit the Congress to float the Tamil Maanila Congress (M) to protest against the party’s alliance with the AIADMK. Mr. Ananthan did not follow him but remained in the organisation. He fared badly in the Nagercoil Lok Sabha constituency in the 1996 poll, finishing fourth and forfeiting his deposit.
‘Thondar Congress’
After losing the post of TNCC chief in 1997, he quit the party a few years later and started ‘Thondar Congress’. In the 2001 Assmebly poll, his party was in the DMK-led alliance and he lost by a margin of about 34,000 votes to the AIADMK’s nominee in Thiruvottriyur. Years later, he returned to the Congress. In 2019, he had even wanted to contest in the Nanguneri bypoll but the party declined to grant him a ticket.
About 15 years ago, he had demanded that the State government build a temple for ‘Bharat Mata’ at the memorial of freedom fighter Subramaniya Siva, at Paaparapatty in Pennagaram of Dharmapuri district, as it was the wish of the freedom fighter, who had set apart a piece of land there for the purpose. Eventually, in August 2021, the Bharat Mata Memorial and library, set up at a cost of ₹1.5 crore, was declared open.
A recipient of the Bharatiar and Thagaisal Thamizhar awards of the State government, Mr. Ananthan was, in 2022, allotted a High Income Group flat of the government-controlled Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB). Besides Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, Ananthan had three daughters and a son.
Published – April 09, 2025 04:47 pm IST
