An ideology's transformation

In an outstanding article in the Caravan magazine, Vinod K Jose outlines the character arc of Tamil Nadu chief and dynast M Karunanidhi, showing the transformation of a Dravidian writer to a politician whose ideology starts and ends with family:

"IT WAS IDEOLOGY, after all—the persuasive force of the Dravidian awakening launched by Periyar and refined by Annadurai—that brought the DMK to power. But the party learnt quickly that retaining power could not be achieved by ideology alone—and decided, over time, that the spoils of its power were too good to waste pursuing ideological

ends. It was under Karunanidhi that the DMK embraced power for its own sake, and the younger members of his dynasty naturally came to regard power and money as the only worthwhile pursuits.

In this lies the greatest irony of Karunanidhi’s long reign: that a man who believed—and continues to believe—with all sincerity, in the ideology of Periyar and Annadurai is the same man who willfully presided over its debasement and decline. Karunanidhi still knows how to pay lip service to Tamil nationalism, and does so with verve and gusto when the situation demands it. But his political descendants, whose utter lack of ideology he finds distasteful, learnt their ways under his tutelage."

The essay is insightful and evocative, and after reading it I even detected in myself a glimmer of sadness for the dynast – I am sure Karaunanidhi started with good intensions of upholding Dravidian pride, and certainly didn’t want to end up what he is today: a reincarnation of the very feudal lords and Kings whom he wanted to usurp. Karunanidhi is a vastly more dangerous and lethal version of the Kings from historical India we (and perhaps he) desisted: like old kings and feudal lords, Karunanidhi has fathered several children from several wives, owns substantial amount of property, has (by his own admission) amassed crores of Rupees, has powerful enemies like Jayalalithaa, has won the loyalty of strongmen and courtiers, and his family openly bickers and fights amongst itself for the spoils of power. And like those kings, Karunanidhi will be loathed and remembered for what he really is: a petty, venal politician mired in countless ill-deeds:

“Karunanidhi will be remembered for the three to four institutions that are working decently in Tamil Nadu—the public distribution system, healthcare and a few social welfare programmes,” N Ram concluded. “But he will be mostly remembered for institutionalising corruption in all spheres of the state.”