MGR’s mojo, time tested and enduring
Updated:
Updated:
December 25, 2020 00:46 IST
In the run-up to the Tamil Nadu elections, his name and legacy still cast their spell on voters and political claimants
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In the run-up to the Tamil Nadu elections, his name and legacy still cast their spell on voters and political claimants
M.G. Ramachandran, or MGR (1917-1987), founder of Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), and Chief Minister for an almost unbroken period of 10 years (1977-87), is back in the public discourse.
List of claimants
Kamal Haasan, veteran actor and founder of the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), has joined the list of claimants to his legacy. Rajinikanth, another veteran actor, and who has planned to launch his party in a month, declared in early 2018 that he aspired to revive “MGR rule”. His admirers are expecting him to replicate a “Dindigul-type” of performance in the 2021 Assembly election, just as MGR’s AIADMK, in its maiden attempt within months of formation, scored a spectacular victory in the 1973 by-election to the Dindigul Lok Sabha constituency; it surpassed the Congress (Organisation) led by former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj and pushed the then ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to the third spot.