By R Sarath Kumar

This was one of those 'log-cabinto- White-House' stories…Only difference is that Kamarajar enabled two others to enter the highest position of power, preferring to stay out.

That, in brief, was the career and greatness of Kamakshi Kumarasami Nadar, better known as Kumarasami Kamaraj Nadar. For the masses he was just 'Kamarajar'.

Born into a middle class family on July 15, 1903 at Virudhunagar in Southern Tamil Nadu, he rose through the ranks to become the Chief Minister of Madras state in 1954 and served its people till 1963, to be succeeded by Bhaktavatsala Mudaliar, the last of the Congress Chief Ministers of the state.

His tenure is compared by many of his admirers to the Golden Age of the Guptas. One of them, G.K. Moopanar, talked of ushering in the Kamaraj rule, unseating the regional party. This was taken at face value at least once by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Congress president and Prime Minister.

This worldly-wise person became president of the Congress Party, and his word was associated with dumping some political personalities. That was how 'the Kamaraj Plan' came about, and was employed to pack off "for party work" many people, including Morarji Desai. His brief replies---'Aagattum Paarkalam' ('we shall see') and 'thanks' left many, accustomed to listening to speeches and speeches, literally speechless. His modesty in not announcing his official tours to other states, at least once, left his hosts red in the face. When he went to Bengaluru in connection with party matters, no one was at the railway station---those were the days when being airborne was a rarity -to chaperon him, he engaged a taxi and reached the office of the state party headquarters. As he was single, no whiff of scandal is associated with his name.

His greatest role in national politics occurred after Jawaharlal Nehru died in May 1964, and the search had to be made to find a worthy successor to ensure a smooth transition. He persuaded party MPs and Chief Ministers to opt for Lal Bahadur Shastri, who during the last months of the Nehru era, was substituting for by-then-ailing Nehru in Parliament. The other candidate was Morarji Desai. Again, when Lal Bahadur Shastri died at Tashkent in 1966, he had the difficult task of persuading party MPs and Chief Ministers to accept the candidature of charismatic Indira Gandhi as the next Prime Minister. Many suggested that he be the next Prime Minister—a man of the soil; but, he did not. After the 1967 elections to Parliament, the strength of the Congress was reduced to 297 in a house of 545, and Kamarajar had to exercise all his skills to ensure the continuation of Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister. According to one version, 11 of the 12 Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states opposed her candidacy. Morarji Desai, the candidate for the second time, described the methods of Kamarajar as undemocratic…but the Tamil carried the day, and the rest is history.

The greatest contribution of Kamarajar to Madras state was its industrialisation. The high-profile Rajagopalachari, in reality, could not hold a candle to Kamarajar in either industrialising Madras state or curbing the rise of regional parties. Kamarajar gave a free hand to trade union leader R. Venkataraman to industrialise the state, and the latter did it with aplomb. The second industrialisation came to Tamil Nadu only after P.V. Narasimha Rao, as Prime Minister, effected liberalisation decades later.

At the end of the day, Kamarajar was a disillusioned man. While he hailed Indira Gandhi's move nationalising private scheduled banks in 1969—by then chill set in between the two—he never forgave her for imposing the Emergency. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy narrated once that he had suggested to Kamarajar to talk to her into withdrawing the Emergency, as it was he (Kamarajar) who had helped her become the Prime Minister. Kamarajar reportedly declined to take it up, as he felt she would befit him to do so.

Kamarajar spent his last years in relative anonymity. This great personality lost his seat in Virudunagar by 1285 votes to the student leader P. Seenivasan from the DMK at the Madras State Legislative Assembly election in 1967. Soon after, he confined himself to his home in Chennai, and died on October 2 of 1975 almost unattended by doctors, as present facilities were unavailable then. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1976.

The enduring legacy of this modest person was the numberless people he helped through his policies as the Chief Minister to come up in life. Neither personal nor financial scandal ever was hinted about him. This is the highest contribution to that person who preferred anonymity to power and self.

To look for another Kamarajar is many times more difficult to finding a needle in the haystack.