Aladi Aruna

Personal life

Aladipatti Arunachalam, alias Aladi Aruna, was born in Aladipatti, a village about 30 kilometres from Tirunelveli, to Vaithiyalingam Nadar and Pathirakaaliyammal. His father was a farmer and also owned a provisions store. He was the eldest son in the family with two brothers and two sisters.

After his primary school education at the Primary school in Aladipatti, he completed his high school education from Tirunelveli. He graduated from St.John's College, Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli. During this period, he won the State-level intercollegiate oratorical competition held in Pachaiyappa's college, Madras. He also held a master's degree in arts and a bachelor's degree in law.

He was married to Kamala with whom he had five sons and a daughter. His daughter, Poongothai Aladi Aruna, followed him into politics.

He founded Einstein College of Engineering in Tamil Nadu in 2004 and was also instrumental in the success of Dhanalakshmi Higher Secondary School established in 1913, a 100-year school in North Chennai.

Political career

Though born into a family that traditionally held the priestdom of the famous Vaithiyalingasamy Kovil in Aladipatti, he was strongly influenced by the rationalist movement spearheaded by Periyar and greatly enchanted with the silver-tongued oratory of Arignar Anna and Kalaignar Karunanidhi.These influences soon became his guiding forces and he entered the political movement even as a young student and actively participated in the now historic "Anti Hindi movement ".(His book "Hindi Egathipathiyam" is considered a treatise on the movement)

He started his political career by unsuccessfully contesting in the Assembly elections from Alangulam as a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidate in 1962. He was later elected to the Assembly on two occasions in 1967 and 1971 as a DMK candidate.He was greatly responsible for the organisation of Cooperatives for the beedi workers during this period. He also won Lok Sabha election in 1977 from Tirunelveli. It is a rarity in Tamil Nadu that a politician has been successful in state and central governments.

He later joined the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and was elected to the Lok Sabha,from Tirunelveli and later M. G. Ramachandran nominated him to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu in 1984.He also served as the leader of the AIADMK in the Rajya Sabha .During this tenure, he served as a member of the Joint Parliament Committee that probed the Bofors scandal.He raised a dissent Note on the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee which examined the Bofors Scam,which was a death-knell to the Rajiv Government and Congress party when the news about Bofors Scandal was announced in BBC Radio highlighting the dissent of Aladi Aruna it was headlines in most news papers his famous comment in the dissent note said "The son (Rajiv Gandhi has surpassed mother (Indira Gandhi) in corruption and abuse of power".

After the death of Ramachandran,he rejoined the DMK and was appointed its spokesperson .He was the first person to hold office as spokesperson in the DMK.

He became a Law Minister of Tamil Nadu after winning the assembly election contesting as a DMK candidate in 1996. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Law University in Chennai and setting up the High Court branch in Madurai, bringing Law College to Tirunelveli.

DMK

He participated and lead various agitations against Hindi during 1962 - 1967, was imprisoned for more than a year during that Anti Hindi Movement. He organized Beedi rollers of Tirunelveli to come under a forum and made them powerful. It is his efforts that got the beedi rollers separate ID cards and getting benefits from State and Central Governments. He was always a star speaker in all meetings and conferences, it was said that Aringar Anna will tell the meeting organisers to make Aladi Aruna speak after his arrival as he wants to listen the speech of Aladi Aruna. Never in his political life accused of any allegations in any form. Even the apposition political party leader admire him for his honesty, integrity and service. He was one of the respected politicians in New Delhi. He was suspended from DMK party for alleged anti-party activities. He accused the party of sidelining those who oppose M. K. Stalin emerging as a potential candidate for Chief Minister. He also said that Stalin was unfit to become Chief Minister or lead the party headed by stalwarts such as C. N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi.

Books

Aladi Aruna was one of the foremost Dravidian writers in English.He has authored several books in English and Tamil. He has written several books on varied topics. Unfederal Features of the Indian Constitution is notable among his books Defend Our Rights - which discusses center state relationship Voice for the States - A compilation of his various speeches in Parliament. He was the editor of weekly "Ennam" .

His other works in Tamil include,

Death

Aladi Aruna was murdered during a morning walk near Alangulam, in Tirunelveli district on 31 December 2004. His friend R. Ponraj who also accompanied him was killed and Socrates, TASMAC bar attendant from Aladipatti survived the attack.

According to police, Aruna was attacked by a gang instructed by his friend and local educationist S. A. Raja, with whom he had fallen out over setting up of educational institutions in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. Raja was arrested in January 2005 but was bailed by the Supreme Court of India in July 2006. The district court acquitted Raja on 15 April 2008. The High Court reversed the verdict on 5 August 2009. The Supreme Court then again acquitted and released him on 30 July 2010, writing that the high court could not establish that he was guilty.

Two of the accused, Balamurugan and Azhagar, were convicted in Tirunelveli principal sessions court and sentenced to death in April 2008. A third, Veldurai, was convicted for a violation of the Arms Act and sentenced to three years in prison. Six others were acquitted, including Raja.