Murasoli, the ruling DMK’s mouthpiece which was launched as a hand-written note in 1942 by then 18-year-old M Karunanidhi, turned 80 on Wednesday. The newspaper, which is now run by Chief Minister M K Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi, has a special place in the minds and heart of DMK cadres as Karunanidhi used Murasoli to reach out to them every day through this column titled udanpirape (brethren).
Till the end of 2016 till he was confined to his iconic Gopalapuram residence, Karunanidhi used to visit Murasoli office every day and his letter to party cadres appeared in all editions. “Murasoli is my first child,” senior journalists quoted Karunanidhi as saying.
Launched by Kalaignar in his hometown Tiruvarur in 1942 during World War II, it began as just a handwritten pamphlet carrying articles written by him under the pen name ‘Cheran’. Murasoli was then converted into a daily in 1960 and began publishing from Chennai after Karunanidhi shifted to the state capital due to his film and political commitments.
On Wednesday, the newspaper came out with a special edition commemorating 80 years of its existence. Stalin, and senior journalists like N Ram wrote articles narrating the “critical role played” by Murasoli in Tamil Nadu, especially in the rise of the DMK.
Old-timers recalled Murasoli was Karunanidhi’s first love. “If thalaivar is in Chennai, he would visit Murasoli office twice in a day. It came down to one when he fell ill but he never refrained from visiting the office. He would proof-check the paper before it goes to print and read the newspaper once again when it is published the next morning,” a senior DMK leader told DH.
His column infused zeal and drive into the DMK cadre - a source of motivation they hankered for every morning, and which continued till about 2017 before he retired from active public life.
Senior journalist R Bhagwan Singh said Karunanidhi always took pride in calling himself a “journalist” first and recalled the contributions to free speech by Murasoli during the Emergency imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1975.
“The high point of the Kalaignar-Murasoli team’s long battle to protect democracy was the fierce and uncompromising opposition to the Emergency, when ingenious methods were adopted to dodge the undemocratic and often silly censoring by the Centre’s Press Information Bureau (PIB),” he told DH.
Singh said Kalaignar used Murasoli to reach out to his DMK cadre where he would provide his assessment of the prevailing socio-political situation; the challenges faced by the party, the people and the country; the possible solutions that they must pursue and the goals that must be achieved.
“Murasoli helped him significantly to defend himself and his party against the constant attacks from arch-rival MGR and after him, his successor Jayalalithaa,” he added.