1967: DMK becomes first regional party to form government

The moment itself was not the result of an overwhelming belief in a Tamil identity.

Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai at his home in Madras, on June 3, 1967.  | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives

It was a memorable victory and it made history. In 1967, when the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government rode to power in the State of Madras, it marked the very first win for a regional party in India. It was also significant because it established two strong Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu, which till date have not ceded power to any national party.

The moment itself was not the result of an overwhelming belief in a Tamil identity but came on the back of four major negative developments: the Congress was weakened when C. Rajagopalachari formed the Swatantra Party and aligned with the DMK; anti-Hindi protests were peaking but an arrogant Union government was refusing to back down; scarcity of food was at alarming levels; and inflation was on the rise. The DMK announced a mummunai porattam (three-pronged agitation), and almost all opposition political parties joined it in this agitation.

Ahead of the 1967 State legislative election, the Congress had changed the face of the party and projected former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj as its leader; it also had Dravida Kazhagam ideologue Periyar E.V. Ramasamy campaigning against the DMK. But they fell to the oratory of C.N. Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi, and V.R. Nedunchezhiyan, who enthralled the crowds, and to actor M.G. Ramachandran, who charmed the voters.

The grand coalition stitched by a deft Annadurai led the DMK to win 137 of the 174 seats it contested. The Congress, which contested 232 seats, managed to win only 51. Interestingly, Election Commission data show that the DMK received only 40.69 per cent of the votes polled, while the Congress had a larger vote share, at 41.1 per cent.

The election also settled the question of which of the two Communist parties was bigger in the State. The Communist Party of India contested 32 seats and managed to win only two seats (1.8 per cent vote share), while the “new” communist party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), managed to win 11 of the 22 seats it contested (just over 4 per cent votes polled).

This was also the year that dislodged the Congress, which has not recovered its presence in Tamil Nadu.