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6. LE 1957 Development of Politics in Tamil Nadu - kamraj

Updated: Jun 28, 2021

1957 Legislative assembly

Madras Legislative Assembly election, 1957-31 march 1957

First election after linguistic separation.

Indian national congress representing K. Kamraj had won the election defeating dravida munnerra kazhagam. Rajaji was lost his hope due to kula kalvi thittam With the support of M. Bhatavachalam andC. subramaniam Kamraj become chief minister having both of them as cabinet ministers While M. Karunanidhi and Anbhazhagan won first MLA seat from Dravida kazhagam

  • Delimitation and reorganisation-1953

  • Few area of Telugu speaking were mixed with Andhra

  • Bellary merged with mysore

  • In 1956 Malabar merged with kerala

  • Kanyakumari and Shenkottah added to Tamil Nadu

  • Finally it had arrived to a figure of 206 states

1957 Legislative assembly

Two member constituencies

From 167 , 38 were two member constituency and 37 schedule caste and one schedule tribe were larger in size having more than 100000 votes. Each had to put two vote for each list

  • Member (including both reserved and general lists).

  • The system was abolished after 1952 and 1957 election By two member Constituencies abolition act (1961)

Parties and issues

Kamraj was supported by DMK and Dravida kazhagam but he was least interested with Dravida kazhagam. Kamraj support to DMK made congress to form new party called congress reform Committee and during this tenure MGR entered the DMK party and started spreading messages through films. Karunanidhi, Nedunchezhian Ss rajendran, Anbhazhagan,, dominated DMK and won seats

K. Kamaraj

  • Kumaraswami Kamaraj was born on 15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, was a leader of the Indian National Congress (INC),

  • Freedom fighter in congress wing

  • Named as King maker

  • President of Congress 1964-1967

  • Responsible for Making two prime minister Lal bahadur shastri and Indira Gandhi

  • 3rd Chief minister of India state 1954-1963( Served three terms)

  • Member of parliament , Lokh sabha 1952-1954.

  • Introduced free midday meal scheme

  • Bharth Rathna – 1976

  • Increased Literacy rate in Tamil Nadu

  • Kamraj took efforts to establish IIT madras 1959

  • He took major efforts For irrigation, canal systems , building dams,Industries

  • Neyveli Lignite Corporation,

  • BHEL at Trichy, Manali Refinery,

  • Hindustan raw photo film factory at Ooty,

  • Surgical instruments factory at Chennai,

  • A railway coach factory at Chennai were established.

  • Industries such as paper, sugar, chemicals and cement took off during the period.

  • He introduced Kamraj Plan in 1963 to make all Ministers to resign from power and concentrate on policies. organisation. Six Union Ministers and six Chief Ministers such as Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jagjivan Ram, Morarji Desai, Biju Patnaik and S.K. Patil wer resigned which was appreciated by Nehru.

1957- Opposition Leader- Congress

V. K. Ramaswami Mudaliar

He was elected to the Uthiramerur constituency as an Indian National Congress candidate - 1952 election

Become Opposition leader elected as an Independent candidate in 1957 election. He set up Madras labor union along with B.P.Wadia.

Dravidar Kazhagam


In August 1944, Periyar created the 'Dravidar Kazhagham' out of the Justice Party and the Self-Respect Movement at the Salem Provincial Conference.[7] Dravidar Kazhagam, conceived as a movement and not a political party, insisted on an independent nation for Dravidians called Dravida Nadu consisting of areas that were covered under Madras Presidency.

Over the years, many disagreements arose between Periyar and his followers. In 1949, several of his followers led by C. N. Annadurai, decided to split from Dravidar Kazhagham, after an aged Periyar married a young woman Maniammai and appointed his young wife to act as his successor to lead the party, superseding senior party leaders. Until then E. V. K. Sampath, the nephew of Periyar, was considered his political heir.

Annadurai, on 17 September 1949 along with Kudanthai K.K.Neelamegam, V. R. Nedunchezhiyan, K. A. Mathiazhagan, N. V. Natarajan called "Aimberum Thalaivargal" (Great Five Leaders) along with M. Karunanidhithen an emerging screenwriter and thousands of others in Robinson park in Royapuram in Chennai announced the formation of the DMK. The name of the party (DMK) was announced by Kudanthai Perunthagai. K. K. Neelamegam.

MGR's entry
In 1953, actor M. G. Ramachandran ("MGR") joined the DMK, popularized the party flag and symbol which at that time stood for secession from India by showing it in his movies. MGR was a member of the DMK, and he was seen as an icon of the DMK and spread its message through films like Adimaippenn and Dheiva Thai produced and scripted by R.M.Veerappan, another strong DMK ideology propagator from C.N.Annadurai school .[9]
First Election

DMK entered the electoral fray for 1957 State Assembly elections with M Karunanidhi winning the Kulithalai constituency while other seniors members like V. R. Nedunchezhiyan losing from Salem. In 1962 another prominent actor S.S.Rajendran ("SSR") contested in Theni, legislative assembly election, against the then popular congress leader N. R. Theagarajan and won the seat.

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