All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Abbreviation AIADMK
Leader E. K. Palaniswami
O. Panneerselvam
President E. Madhusudhanan
Chairperson O. Panneerselvam
Parliamentary Chairperson M. Thambidurai
Lok Sabha leader M. Thambidurai
Rajya Sabha leader A. Navaneethakrishnan
Founder M. G. Ramachandran
Founded 17 October 1972 (1972-10-17)
Split from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Headquarters 226, Avvai Shanmugam Salai, Royapettah, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India–600014.
Newspaper Namadhu Amma
Ideology Social democracy
Social liberalism
Left-wing populism
Political position Centre
ECI Status State Party (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry)[1]
Alliance United Progressive Alliance (1977-1980, 1991-1996, 1999)
National Democratic Alliance (1998-1999 & 2004-2006)
Third Front (2008–present)
National convener O. Panneerselvam
Seats in Lok Sabha
37 / 545
[2](currently 531 members + 1 Speaker)
Seats in Rajya Sabha
13 / 245
Seats in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
116 / 234
Seats in Puducherry Legislative Assembly
4 / 30
Election symbol
Website
aiadmk.org.in

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) (English: All India Anna Dravidian Progress Federation) is an Indian political party in the state of Tamil Nadu and in the union territory of Puducherry. It is currently in power in the state of Tamil Nadu and is the third largest party in the Lok Sabha (House of the Peoples). It is a Dravidian party and was founded by M. G. Ramachandran (popularly known as MGR) on 17 October 1972 as a breakaway faction of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). From 1989 to 2016, AIADMK was led by Jayalalithaa, who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on several occasions. The party has won majorities in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly seven times, making it the most successful political outfit in the state's history. The party headquarters is located in the Royapettah neighborhood of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in a building donated to the party in 1986 by Janaki Ramachandran, MGR's wife.

History

M. G. Ramachandran era (1972–1987)

The party was founded in 1972 as Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) by M. G. Ramachandran, a veteran Tamil film star and a popular politician. It was set up as a breakaway faction of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by M. Karunanidhi, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, owing to serious differences between the two.[3] Later, MGR prefixed the All India (AI) tag to the party's name.[4] Since its inception, the relationship between the AIADMK and DMK has been marked by mutual contempt. MGR used his fan network to build the party cadre, and estimates claim his party recruited more than a million members from the first two months of creation. C. N. Annadurai's ideologue and movie mogul R. M. Veerppan was the key architect in unifying the MGR fan clubs and further consolidating the party structure in the 70s. Other key leaders such as Nanjil K. Manoharan and S. D. Somasundaram played major role in consolidation as well.[5] The party tasted victory for the first time by winning the Dindigul parliamentary by-election in 1973 and also won the Coimbatore assembly by-election a year later.[5] On 2 April 1973, AIADMK emerged as the third largest political party in Tamil Nadu, represented by 11 MLAs in the Assembly and by 31 January 1976, it emerged as the second largest political party with 16 MLAs in the Assembly. AIADMK grew close to the Congress Party by supporting the National Emergency which occurred between 1975 and 1977.

The DMK-led government was dismissed by a Central promulgation on corruption charges in 1976. The AIADMK swept to power in 1977, trouncing DMK in the assembly elections. MGR was sworn in as the 7th Chief Minister of the state on 30 June 1977. MGR remained in power until his death in December 1987, winning three consecutive assembly elections held in 1977, 1980 and 1984.[3]

In 1979, AIADMK became the first Dravidian and regional party to be part of the Union Cabinet, when two AIADMK MP's, Sathyavani Muthu and Aravinda Bala Pajanor, joined the short-lived Charan Singh Ministry which followed the Morarji Desai-led Janata Party government (1977–1979).[4]

Relations between the Congress and the AIADMK slowly became strained. In the mid-term parliamentary elections of January 1980, the Congress aligned with the DMK and the alliance won 37 out of the 39 parliamentary seats in the state; the AIADMK won just two seats.[6] After returning to power, the new prime minister, Indira Gandhi, dismissed a number of state governments belonging to the opposition parties, including the AIADMK government.

Elections to the state assembly were held in late May 1980 with the opposition DMK continuing the electoral alliance with the Congress. In a massive reversal of fortunes following its humbling in the Lok Sabha elections, the AIADMK won a comfortable majority in the state assembly by winning 129 seats out of 234 and MGR was sworn in as chief minister for the second time on 9 June 1980.[6]

In 1984, even with MGR's failing health and subsequent hospitalization abroad, the party managed to win the assembly elections in alliance with the Congress. Many political historians consider MGR's persona and charisma at this point of time as "infallible", and a logical continuation of his on-screen "good lad" image, strengthened by his "mythical status" in the minds of the masses.[7] MGR continued to enjoy popular support in his third tenure, which ended with his demise on 24 December 1987.[7]

Succession crisis (1987–1989)

M. G. Ramachandran on left and Janaki on right

Following MGR's death, his wife, actress-turned-politician Janaki Ramachandran, rose to the party's leadership under support of R. M. Veerappan with 98 MLAs and led the government for 24 days as the state's 1st woman chief minister until the state assembly was suspended in January 1988 and President's rule imposed. The party began to crumble due to infighting and broke into two factions, one under Janaki Ramachandran and the other under J. Jayalalithaa, an associate of MGR and another film actress-turned-politician who had starred with MGR in many movies. The 1989 assembly election saw the DMK regaining power after 12 years in the opposition with M. Karunanidhi returning as the Chief Minister for the third time. AIADMK, due to its split, suffered heavily in the elections, with the Janaki and Jayalalithaa factions winning only 2 and 27 seats, respectively.[7] Following AIADMK's rout in the elections, the factions led by Jayalalithaa and Janaki merged under the former's leadership. The DMK government was dismissed in 1990 by the Central Government led by Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, an ally of the AIADMK at that time, on charges that the constitutional machinery in the state had broken down.

Jayalalithaa era (1989 - 5 December 2016)

Former CM of Tamil Nadu, Late. J. Jayalalithaa

The AIADMK allied with the Congress and swept to power in the 1991 assembly election under the leadership of Jayalalitha who became the second female chief minister and the 10th chief minister of the state. Many political observers have ascribed the landslide victory to the anti-incumbent wave arising out of the assassination of the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi[7] by suspected Tamil separatists fighting for a homeland in neighbouring Sri Lanka. The ensuing government, including Jayalalithaa, was accused of large-scale corruption, but Jayalalithaa managed to hold on to power for a full term of five years. In the 1996 assembly election, AIADMK continued its alliance with the Congress but suffered a massive rout, winning only four out of the 234 assembly seats, with even Jayalalithaa losing from Bargur.[8][9]

The AIADMK formed an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vaiko's Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), another breakaway faction of the DMK, during the parliamentary elections in 1998.[8] AIADMK shared power with the BJP in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee headed government between 1998 and 1999,[4] but withdrew support a year later, leading to the fall of the BJP government at the center. Following this, the AIADMK once again allied with the Congress.

In the 2001 assembly election, the AIADMK-led alliance, consisting of the Congress, the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), the Left Front and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), regained power, winning 197 seats, with AIADMK winning 132 of them.[10] Due to the proceedings in a disproportionate assets case which occurred in her previous tenure, she was prevented from holding office. O. Panneerselvam, a close confidant of Jayalalithaa was appointed as the Chief Minister on 21 September 2001. Once the Supreme Court overturned Jayalalithaa's conviction and sentence in the case, O Panneerselvam resigned on 2 March 2002, and Jayalalithaa was again sworn in as Chief Minister.[10]

Unlike her first term, her second term was not marred by corruption scandals. She took many popular decisions such as banning of lottery tickets, restricting the liquor and sand quarrying business to government agencies and banning tobacco product sales near schools and colleges. She encouraged women to join the state police force by setting up all women-police stations and commissioning 150 women into the elite level police commandos in 2003, a first in India. They underwent the same training as their male counterparts, covering the handling of weapons, detection and disposal of bombs, driving, horseriding, and adventure sports.[11] She sent a special task force to the Sathyamangalam forests in October 2004 to hunt down notorious sandalwood smuggler Veerappan. The operation was successful as Veerappan was finally killed by the task force on 18 October 2004.

However, despite the popular measures taken by the government, in the 2004 Lok Sabha election, the party, in alliance with the BJP again, was humiliated, not even winning any of the 39 Lok Sabha seats from the state. The Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA), a DMK-led alliance consisting of all the major opposition parties in the state, swept the election.

Later, in the 2006 assembly election, in spite of media speculations of a hung assembly, the AIADMK, contesting with only the support of MDMK and a few other smaller parties, won 61 seats compared to the DMK's 96 and was pushed out of power by the DMK-led alliance comprising the Congress, the PMK and the Left Front. The AIADMK's electoral reversals continued in the 2009 Lok Sabha election, which is contested as a member of the Left Front-led United National Progressive Alliance. However, the party's performance was better than its debacle in 2004, and it managed to win nine seats.

Following widespread corruption and allegations of nepotism against the DMK government, in the 2011 assembly election, the party, in alliance with parties like the left and actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), swept the polls, winning 202 seats, with the AIADMK alone winning 150. Jayalalithaa was sworn in as Chief Minister for the third time.[10]

In the Union territory of Puducherry, the party allied with N. Rangaswamy's All India N.R. Congress (AINRC) and won the 2011 Puducherry assembly election, which was held in parallel with the Tamil Nadu assembly election. However, it did not join the newly elected AINRC-led government. The AIADMK's good electoral performance continued in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Contesting without allies, the AIADMK won an unprecedented 37 out of 39 seats in the state of Tamil Nadu, emerging as the third-largest party in parliament.

On 27 September 2014, Jayalalithaa was convicted in the Disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa by a Special Court which convicted all four accused, namely Jayalalithaa and her associates Sasikala Natarajan, Ilavarasi and V. N. Sudhakaran, and sentenced all to four-year simple imprisonment. Jayalalithaa was also fined ₹100 crores and her associates were fined ₹10 crore each. The case had political implications as it was the first case where a ruling chief minister had to step down on account of a court sentence.[12] She was convicted for the third time overall and was forced to step down from the chief minister's office for the second time.

Due to her resignation O. Panneerselvam was sworn in as Chief Minister on 29 September 2014.[13] Jayalalithaa was denied bail by the High Court and moved the Supreme Court for bail. The Supreme Court granted bail on 17 October 2014. On 11 May 2015, the high court of Karnataka said she was acquitted from that case, and she has subsequently sworn in again as Chief Minister. On 22 September 2016, she was admitted to Apollo Hospital, Chennai due to fever and dehydration. After the prolonged illness, she died on 5 December 2016.

Expansion beyond Tamil Nadu and Puducherry

Under Jayalalithaa's regime, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has spread out beyond Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and state units have been established in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala. The party floated 54 candidates across the state of Kerala in the 2006 assembly election and had contested on its own.

In Karnataka, the party had members in the state assembly and has influence in the Tamil-speaking areas of Bangalore and Kolar district. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has a following in various other places like Mumbai and Delhi. There are also units in various countries where Tamils are present.

V. K. Sasikala & Dhinakaran era (16 December 2016 - 20 August 2017)

After Jayalalithaa's death on 5 December 2016, Jayalalithaa's long-time friend V. K. Sasikala was selected unanimously as the General Secretary of the party on 16 December 2016.[14][15] On February 5, 2017, she was selected as the leader of the legislative assembly for becoming chief minister. O. Panneerselvam rebelled against V. K. Sasikala and reported that he had been compelled to resign as Chief Minister, bringing in a new twist to Tamil Nadu and Dravidian Politics. Due to a conviction in Disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa, V.K.Sasikala was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment in the Bengaluru Jail. Before that, she appointed Edappadi K. Palaniswami as legislative party leader (Chief Minister) and T. T. V. Dhinakaran as the deputy general secretary of AIADMK party. With the support of 123 MLAs, Edappadi K. Palaniswami became chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

On 23 March 2017, the election commission of India gave separate party symbols to the two factions; O. Panneerselvam's faction known as AIADMK (PURATCHI THALAIVI AMMA), while Edappadi K. Palaniswami's faction known as AIADMK (AMMA).

By-polls were announced at the RK Nagar constituency which was vacated due to Jayalalitha's demise. But, the election commission canceled the by-polls after evidence of large-scale bribing by the ruling AIADMK (AMMA) surfaced. On 17 April 2017, Delhi police registered a case against Dhinakaran who was also the candidate for AIADMK (AMMA) for the by-poll at RK Nagar regarding an allegation of attempting to bribe the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the AIADMK's election symbol. However the Tis Hazari Special Court granted him bail on the grounds that the police had failed to identify the public official allegedly bribed. T.T.V. Dhinakaran started his party work on 5 August 2017. However, the chief minister Edappadi Palaniswamy had a fallout with Dhinakaran and announced that the appointment of T.T.V. Dinakaran as deputy general secretary was invalid.

O. Panneerselvam & Edappadi K. Palaniswami era (21 August 2017 - Present)

On 21 August 2017, both EPS and OPS factions of the AIADMK merged and O. Panneerselvam was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister, Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu and the convener (chairman) of AIADMK. He also holds portfolios of Housing, Rural Housing, Housing Development, Slum Clearance Board and Accommodation Control, Town Planning, Urban Development, and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority.[16] On 4 January 2018, O. Panneerselvam elected as Leader of the House in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

A day after the merger of two AIADMK factions, 19 MLAs[17] owing allegiance to ousted deputy general secretary T. T. V. Dhinakaran on 22 April 2017 submitted letters to Governor, expressing lack of confidence in Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and withdrawing support from the government.[17] However the Madras High Court extended its stay on the floor test and by-elections on 18 seats of the dissident MLAs until further notice hence securing Palaniswami government.[18] The election commission of India on 23 November 2017 granted the two leaves symbol to the EPS and OPS camp.

Policies

MGR indicated he never "favored anti-Brahminism and AIADMK would oppose ethnic exclusion".[19] Janaki and Jayalalithaa were later fighting for the lead position.[20] The AIADMK sought to depoliticise the education policy of the government by not insisting on the medium of education to be the Tamil language. Policies of AIADMK were targeted to the poorer segments of Tamil society – poor, rickshaw pullers, and destitute women and centralising the massive noon meal scheme for children.[21][19] There was ambivalent approach towards the reservation policy and interests of farmers.[19]

The AIADMK and its prime opposition party, the DMK have posted an array of populist schemes targeting the human development index of the state. Most of the schemes are accused to be targeting garner larger electoral support. Both the parties have schemes listed in the election manifestos covering various segments of the population involving fishermen, farmers, and school children. Till the 2000s, the parties had welfare schemes like maternity assistance, subsidized public transport, and educational grants. After the 2000s, the parties started competing at an increasing level over the distribution of consumer goods. The AIADMK government distributed free cycles to class 11 and class 12 students during its tenure of 2001–06. The DMK, in competition, promised free color televisions in its manifesto in 2006 assembly elections. The competition continued during the 2011 assembly elections when both parties announced free laptops for schools students and grinder, mixer and fans for public.[22]

Criticism

Being a popular actor, MGR's fan clubs became the electoral mobilization. The head of his fan club association, R. M. Veerappan, became a lieutenant, and fellow actress J. Jayalalithaa was groomed as a possible heir apparent.[23] There was a near administrative collapse during MGR's rule, and the state's rank in industrial production dropped from 3rd in the nation in 1977 to 13th position in 1987.[23] There were a number of populist schemes that consumed two-thirds of the state's budget and resulted in long-term economic costs.[23] MGR was running a centralised administration which underwent severe toll on the state administration during his extended period of ill health.[24]

Jayalalithaa was also accused of creating a personality cult, with fans and party activists calling her 'Amma' ('mother' in Tamil). Her face adorned food canteens, pharmacies, salt packets, laptop computers, baby care kits, bottled water, medicine shops and cement bags in the state. Following her imprisonment on 27 September 2014, her grief-stricken supporters held protests and wept openly. Her replacement - the party's faithful and former minister O. Panneerselvam - also wept during his inauguration, with colleagues saying they were in mourning.[25] Due to the centralized leadership of Jayalalithaa, and the lack of the chain of command, the state of Tamil Nadu was experiencing policy paralysis, with most legislators and party cadres protesting against her conviction with hunger fasts, road and rail blockades.[26][27]

Election history

Tamil Nadu

YearGeneral electionVotes polledSeats won/Seats contested
02-04-19735th Assembly11
31-01-19765th Assembly16
19776th Assembly5,194,876132/155[5]
19776th Lok Sabha5,365,07617[28]
19807th Assembly7,303,010129/177[6]
19807th Lok Sabha4,674,0642
19848th Assembly8,030,809134[6]
19848th Lok Sabha3,968,96712[6]
19899th Assembly148,6302 (Janaki faction)[7]
19899th Assembly27 (Jayalalithaa faction)[7]
19899th Lok Sabha4,518,64911[28]
199110th Assembly10,940,966164/168[8]
199110th Lok Sabha4,470,54211[28]
199611th Assembly5,831,3834
199611th Lok Sabha2,130,2860[28]
199812th Lok Sabha6,628,92818[29]
199913th Lok Sabha6,992,00310[28]
200112th Assembly8,815,387132
200414th Lok Sabha8,547,0140[28]
200613th Assembly10,768,55961
200915th Lok Sabha6,953,5919
201114th Assembly14,149,681150/160
201416th Lok Sabha18,115,82537/39[28]
201615th Assembly17,617,060136/234

Puducherry

YearGeneral electionVotes polledSeats won
19743rd Assembly60,8121
19774th Assembly69,87314
19776th Lok Sabha115,3021[28]
19805th Assembly45,6230
19856th Assembly47,5216
19907th Assembly76,3373
19918th Assembly67,7926
19969th Assembly57,6783
199812th Lok Sabha102,6221
200110th Assembly59,9265
200611th Assembly5
201612th Assembly4

List of Chief Ministers from AIADMK

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu:

  1. M. G. Ramachandran (1977–1987)
  2. V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (24 December 1987 – 7 January 1988)
  3. Janaki Ramachandran (1988)
  4. J. Jayalalithaa (1991–1996, 2001, 2002–2006, 2011–2014, 2015-2016, 23 May 2016 – 5 December 2016)
  5. O. Panneerselvam (2001–2002, 2014-2015, 6 December 2016 – 16 February 2017)
  6. Edappadi K. Palaniswami (16 February 2017 - incumbent)

Chief Minister of Puducherry:

  1. Subramanyan Ramaswamy (6 March 1974 - 28 March 1974, 2 July 1977 - 12 November 1978)

List of Deputy Chief Ministers from AIADMK

Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu:

  1. O. Panneerselvam (21 August 2017 - incumbent)

Notes

  1. ↑ "List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Members: Lok Sabha". loksabha.nic.in. Lok Sabha Secretariat. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  3. 1 2 Kohli 1990, p. 157
  4. 1 2 3 Rana 2006, p. 400
  5. 1 2 3 Murali 2007, p. 81
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Murali 2007, p. 82
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Murali 2007, p. 83
  8. 1 2 3 Murali 2007, p. 84
  9. ↑ Murali 2007, p. 87
  10. 1 2 3 "List of Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu from 1920". Archived from the original on 23 April 2013.
  11. ↑ Haviland, Charles. "Indian women join elite police". BBC. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  12. ↑ Variyar, Mugdha. "Jayalalithaa Gets 4 Years Jail Term in Assets Case, Has to Step Down as CM".
  13. ↑ "Jaya moves HC against conviction, Panneerselvam sworn in". 29 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "AIADMK appoints "Chinnamma" VK Sasikala as party chief". 29 December 2016 – via The Economic Times.
  15. ↑ "V.K. Sasikala appointed as AIADMK general secretary". The Hindu. 29 December 2016.
  16. ↑ "AIADMK merger: Panneerselvam is Deputy CM, gets finance portfolio". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 21 August 2017.
  17. 1 2 "19 pro-Dhinakaran MLAs withdraw support to Palaniswami".
  18. ↑ "Madras HC extends its stay on floor test in TN Assembly".
  19. 1 2 3 Sinha 2005, p. 107
  20. ↑ Kohli 1990, p. 164
  21. ↑ "പനീർസെൽവത്തിന് ചിഹ്നം വൈദ്യുതി പോസ്റ്റ്, ശശികല പക്ഷത്തിന് തൊപ്പി".
  22. ↑ Kohli, Atul; Singh, Prerna (2013). Routledge Handbook of Indian Politics. Routledge. p. 285. ISBN 9781135122744.
  23. 1 2 3 Kohli 1990, p. 162
  24. ↑ Kohli 1990, p. 163
  25. ↑ "The downfall of India's 'Mother' politician". 3 October 2014 – via www.bbc.com.
  26. ↑ Sivaraman, R. (30 September 2014). "AIADMK cadre observe fast, hold rail roko" – via www.thehindu.com.
  27. ↑ "Jayalalithaa stays in jail, protests continue to rage in Tamil Nadu". 1 October 2014.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rana 2006, p. 398
  29. ↑ Ahuja 1998, p. 358

References

  • Ahuja, M. L. (1998), Electoral politics and general elections in India, 1952–1998, New Delhi: Mittal Publication, ISBN 81-7099-711-9 .
  • Kohli, Atul (1990), Democracy and discontent: India's growing crisis of governability, Canada: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-39692-1 .
  • Mahendra Singh, Geetha Kamalakshi (2006), India votes: Lok Sabha & Vidhan Sabha elections 2001–2005, New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, ISBN 81-7625-647-1 .
  • Murali, Geetha Kamalakshi; University of California, Berkeley (2007), Tracing the signs: Voter mobilization and the functionality of ideas in ..., MI: ProQuest LLC .
  • Sinha, Aseema (2005), The regional roots of developmental politics in India: a divided leviathan, IN, USA: Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-34404-2 .
  • Thol, Thirumaavalavan; Meena Kandaswamy, Uproot Hindutva: the fiery voice of the liberation panthers, Kolkata, ISBN 81-85604-79-7 .
  • "Jaya Network". Jaya Network. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  • "Dr. Namathu MGR". Dr. Namathu MGR. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
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