Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, his cabinet colleagues and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party leaders staged a peace march in Chennai on Monday, August 7, to commemorate the fifth death anniversary of former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. The peace rally started from the Karunanidhi statue at the Omandurar Estate complex till the Kalaignar Memorial in Marina Beach.
Stalin commemorated his late father and said "I grew up watching you. Going about your policy. I will make your dreams come true." All DMK leaders, ministers, MLAs and MPs and thousands of people turned up for the peace march.
Karunanidhi had served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for about two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He died on August 7, 2018 at a hospital in Chennai over prolonged illness and aged related health complications. Karunanidhi was also a well-known writer and popularly referred to as Kalaignar and Mutthamizh Arignar for his contributions to Tamil literature. He had the longest tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu with 6,863 days in office.
He was also a long standing leader of Dravidian movement and 10-time president of the DMK. Karunanidhi has also had a record of never losing in Assembly elections. From 1957, he had won 13 times. Before coming into politics he worked as a script writer in Tamil film industry. He formed a student movement against the imposition of Hindi. He also started a newspaper during his school days, which grew into Murasoli, the DMK’s official publication.