How late Tamil Nadu CM K Kamaraj’s rhetoric came back to haunt Congress in PM Modi’s speech

Chennai: While campaigning in Gujarat’s Banaskantha on 1 May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Congress for purportedly planning to introduce an inheritance tax. “If you have two buffaloes, the Congress will take away one if voted to power,” he warned the crowd. But what also stands out in the statement is that it mirrors something that Congressman and former Tamil Nadu chief minister Kamaraj said some 72 years ago.

During both the 1952 Madras legislative assembly election and the Gudiyatham by-election in 1954, Kamaraj issued similar bovine-based warnings about the opposition Communist Party of India and their socialist ideology. “If you have two cows, communists will take away one if voted to power. Then how will you plough your farmland?” Kamaraj had said.

However, historian and former DMK and CPM functionary M Duraisingam told ThePrint that Kamaraj’s words were said in a different context.

“Since the Congress was fighting using the symbol of a ‘pair of bullocks’ at the time, the argument and criticism put forth against the communists gained people’s attention,” the 77-year-old political veteran said. (The Congress reportedly only started using its current hand symbol in 1977.)

Duraisingam added that though Kamaraj’s rhetoric was about discrediting socialism and could not be equated to what the PM said in Gujarat, both statements were designed to grab attention.

“Both are said in different contexts, but the effects are the same,” he said. “People easily get influenced by such campaign rhetoric.”

Congress veteran A Gopanna acknowledged that Kamaraj was critical of the communists’ idea of socialism, leading to the strongly worded remark. “He supported democratic socialism, not the version practiced in communist countries,” Gopanna said.

However, political commentator Sigamani Thirupathi said that even though Modi and Kamaraj used similar phrasing, the subtext conveyed by their statement was completely different.

“The usage of words is the same, but (the line) Modi took here is communal and what Kamaraj took in Tamil Nadu was about class,” he said. Tirupathi was apparently referring to the Prime Minister’s campaign speeches in Rajasthan, where Modi accused the Congress of planning to take away people’s money and mangalsutras and redistributing them to religious minorities.

Congress, communists, and cows

In 1952, the Congress won 152 of the 375 assembly constituencies in what was then called Madras state, and, with support from the Socialist Party and other allies, formed a government. C Rajagopalachari was appointed chief minister.

However, the formation of Andhra State later reduced the number of seats in Madras state to 230. Of these, Congress had 118, and K Kamaraj was elected as the legislative party leader.

“Kamaraj was not a member of the assembly then. So, he made AJ Arunachala Mudaliar, an MLA from the Gudiyatham assembly constituency resign and contested in the by-election,” recalled historian M Duraisingam.

K Kamaraj

K Kamaraj | Commons

Dravidian leader Periyar EV Ramasamy supported Kamaraj, so the DMK did not contest, but the Communist Party’s VK Kothandaraman provided stiff competition, according to Duraisingam.

“The anxious Kamaraj went with such campaigns so vigorously to win the election,” he added.

CPM state committee member SA Perumal explained that Congress resorted to such campaign rhetoric because the communist movement was very strong at that time. Kamaraj’s statement, he said, was also targeted toward countering the communists’ ideology of “land belongs to those who cultivate it”.

“In 1952, Kamaraj often used lines like, ‘If you have two acres of land, they’ll take one; if you have two cows, they’ll take one away from you; if you have two houses, they’ll take one.’ The DMK later adopted similar language against the communists. Later, the DMK also made similar statements against the communists. If one needs power, they will go to any extent and this is what it shows,” the 81-year-old CPM veteran said.

Perumal noted that it was difficult for the Communist Party to reach the people and counter such rhetoric. “(Congress) just said it so easily, but reaching the people with the correct context became a tough task,” he said. “(The Congress used) common people’s language— and people get scared if someone tells them that their belongings will be forcibly taken away.”

From foes to friends

While K Kamaraj opposed the communists, he was the first to implement land reforms in Tamil Nadu, according to Congress veteran Gopanna.

“The Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961, was brought by Kamaraj to limit the area for a family of five members to 30 standard acres. The DMK later reduced this to 15 acres after coming to power. Kamaraj was for the poor and he stood by it,” Gopanna said.

Duraisingam also pointed out how Kamaraj visited communist countries after becoming chief minister.

“He won the election by criticising the communists but after becoming the CM he visited Russia and other communist countries. This was later criticised by the communists, but though there were ideological differences, he maintained good friendships with them,” he said.

CPM’s Perumal averred that the Congress has moved away from its old idea of socialism. “They may not argue the same way now, since their present election manifesto itself speaks about the wealth accumulation of 1 percent of people in the country,” he said. “But the sad part is that the same words they used against communists in Tamil Nadu have now been turned against them in Gujarat.”

(Edited by Asavari Singh)