Karunanidhi, MGR shared mutual respect, says senior minister Duraimurugan

CHENNAI: Former Chief Ministers and charismatic leaders M Karunanidhi and MG Ramachandran, despite their political differences, shared a special relationship and mutual respect, Leader of the House and senior minister Duraimurugan told the State Assembly on Thursday.

Jogging his memory back to the early 1980s, Duraimurugan recalled that the then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras, Prof M Santappa, had decided to honour the then Chief Minister and his ‘beloved brother’ MGR with a doctorate.

However, the V-C kept the decision secret, fearing that Duraimurugan, who was one of the syndicate members of the varsity, and a few other members might oppose the resolution.

Despite this, the V-C went ahead and fixed the date for the event. The V-C planned to hold the syndicate meeting just hours before the programme to negate any contradictory outcome.

After learning about this, Duraimurugan, along with fellow syndicate member Dr Ramamurthy and a few others, visited Karunanidhi’s residence late at night to seek his opinion.

“Our leader told me that he and MGR had differences on a thousand issues, but MGR deserved to be honoured for his contribution to cinema. He insisted that no one should oppose the resolution and asked me to propose it, noting that he (MGR) had done a lot for me. I did exactly that,” said Duraimurugan, recalling the chain of events.

He went on to say that the CM, upon learning what had happened, called him at the programme venue and questioned why they had disturbed ‘Thalaivar’ so late at night, especially since he was unwell. The CM reprimanded him.

“Tears welled up in Anna’s (elder brother’s) eyes when he heard what our leader told me. He held me close and made me sit next to him on the dais,” Duraimurugan said, adding that although the two leaders had differing opinions and strong political differences, they had mutual respect. MGR always referred to the DMK leader as ‘Thalaivar’.

"Those who deserve to be honoured should be honoured, regardless of their political camps or ideologies," he said, and took a dig at the AIADMK by stating that except for the principal opposition party, leaders of other political parties spoke in unison and urged the government to establish a university in honour of the late DMK leader. He appreciated the gesture.