The Kingmaker K. Kamaraj
A man who was widely respected for his traits of honesty, integrity and simplicity, an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu widely accepted as “Kingmaker” in Indian politics.
A powerful politician who played a crucial role in the appointment of India’s two Prime Ministers – Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi , After the demise of Nehru in 1964
He is still remembered for introducing free education and the free Midday Meal Scheme during his tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
In south India people fondly called him as Black Gandhi
He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, posthumously in 1976
The domestic terminal of the Chennai airport is named "Kamaraj Terminal", Chennai's Beach Road renamed "Kamarajar Salai"
Kumarasami Kamaraj well known as K. Kamaraj was born on 15th July 1903 at Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu from a trading family. His father Kumaraswamy Nadar was a coconut merchant and his mother was Sivakami Ammal
His father died when he was at six years and at age twelve Kamaraj dropped out of school in 1914 to support his family
After he left the school he joined in his uncle shop, but his attention was not in business he started concentrating in freedom fighters speech. At the end of First World War Kamaraj saw a newspaper that Gandhiji inviting for Dharna against Roulette Act and after that Kamaraj became a full time worker of congress
Punjab Massacre was the decisive turning point in his life and at this point he decided his aim was to fight for the National freedom and to bring an end to foreign rule. In 1920, at the age of 18 he became active political worker and joined Congress as full-time worker
Gandhi visited Madurai on September 21, 1921, Kamaraj attended Gandhi's public meeting and met him for the first time in person. He visited villages carrying Congress propaganda
Kamaraj was first jailed in June 1930 for two years in Alipore Jail, Calcutta for participation in "Salt Satyagraha" led by Rajagopalachari at Vedaranyam and was released earlier in 1931 in consequence of Gandhi-Irwin Pact before he could serve full term imprisonment
Kamaraj was once again arrested and sent to jail for three years for spreading Quit India Movement initiated by Gandhi. Kamaraj political guru and inspiration was Satyamurti and under their leadership the party was strengthened
During the struggle for India's independence from the British rule, Kamaraj was a close friend of Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was later appointed as the first prime minister of the country
After India gained independence, Kamaraj became the Chief Minister of Madras in 1954
Kamaraj remained Chief Minister for three consecutive terms. During his period he removed Hereditary Education Policy introduced by Rajaji and he reopened 6000 schools closed by Rajaji government. He also added 12,000 more school in the state so that poor rural student’s no need to walk more than 5 km for their Primary and Higher Education. He tried to eradicate illiteracy by introducing free education and the Midday Meal Scheme to provide at least one meal per day to the lakhs of poor school children. He introduced free school uniforms to weed out caste, creed and class distinctions among young children. He took effors to start IIT Madras in 1959
During his tenure major irrigation schemes were planned and dams were constructed, which includes Manimuthar Dam, Vaigai Dam, Sathanur Dam and many more. Kamaraj also concentrated on investment on industries too; he feels agriculture and industry are the back-bone for the development of the nation. The industries were started during his period are BHEL, Trichy, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Manali Refinery, Railway Coach factory at Perambur and many more….
The man of Black gandhi died on October 2, 1975, in his house on the memorable date of Mahathma Gandhis DOB.
Reference:
http://kamarajar.blogspot.ae
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Kamaraj
