The freedom struggle brought to the fore a number of public-spirited persons, known for simplicity, integrity and incorruptibility. P. Kakkan (1909-1981), a Congress leader of the Gandhian era and Tamil Nadu’s only Home Minister who belonged to the Scheduled Castes, was such a leader who demonstrated that honourable individuals, too, could make a mark in politics.
Born at Thumbapatti in Melur taluk of Madurai district on June 18, 1909, Kakkan had modest education. Soon, he came under the spell of A. Vaidyanatha Aiyar, a Congress veteran who strove for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes. When Aiyar, as the president of the Tamil Nadu Harijan Sevak Sangham, created history by leading a group of five Scheduled Caste members to the famed Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple in Madurai in July 1939, Kakkan was one of them. The event marked the first entry of members of the community to a temple in the then Presidency of Madras. When Aiyar died in February 1955, Kakkan tonsured his head as a mark of tribute and took part in the funeral.
During the 1942 Quit India movement, Kakkan underwent imprisonment for one-and-a-half years. Four years later, he made his maiden attempt in electoral politics and was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly. He later served as a member of the Constituent Assembly, too. In the 1952 Lok Sabha election, he became an MP from Madurai. His hour of glory came when he became the first Scheduled Caste leader to get elected as president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) in December 1954. He held that post for the next three years before joining the Kamaraj Cabinet as Public Works Minister. Kakkan became the TNCC chief again in October 1969 amid an intense power struggle across the country, which eventually led to a split in the party. What is to be noted is that till now, no leader of the community could hold the post of TNCC president longer than Kakkan.
Kakkan’s stint as Public Works Minister marked the launch and completion of several road and water projects. He was one of those who had early realised the importance of minor ports to the overall economic development of the country. In 1963, when M. Bakthavatsalam succeeded Kamaraj as the Chief Minister, Kakkan was made the Home Minister. Between 1957 and 1967, he was one of those who took on the DMK vociferously.
According to a report in The Hindu of November 30, 1957, at a meeting held at Gobichettypalayam, Kakkan condemned the “cry of the D.M.K. for a separate Dravidasthan and explained how, in the present national and international set-up, such a concept was ludicrous”. (Five years later, the party gave up the demand).
As the Home Minister, he advocated negotiations on the issue of the anti-Hindi imposition agitation in the mid-1960s and denied the DMK’s charge that the ruling Congress had used the police to further its ends. In the 1967 Assembly election, when the Congress was swept out of power, Kakkan lost in Melur South. Four years later, in the Lok Sabha election, he tried his luck from Sriperumpudur as a candidate of the Congress (Organisation) and faced yet another defeat.
There are a number of accounts of how Kakkan led a simple life, even while in power. As narrated once by former Chief Secretary A. Padmanabhan, it was common to see Kakkan travelling on the government-run buses after demitting the office of Minister. He never owned a house. Capturing the personality of Kakkan in 1969, T.T. Krishnamachari, former Union Finance Minister, hailed him for his “selfless service and scrupulous adherence to Gandhian principles”. The former Home Minister chose only government hospitals for treatment or check-up. In May 1979, the then Chief Minister, M.G. Ramachandran, was surprised to spot him in an ordinary ward at the Rajaji Government Hospital in Madurai. The Chief Minister had asked the hospital authorities to get him shifted to a special ward and provide him due care, according to a publication released during the centenary celebrations of Kakkan.
On December 23, 1981, Kakkan died at the Government General Hospital in Chennai after a prolonged illness. The State government, later, issued orders, extending the monthly grant and other concessions to his widow Sornam Parvathi Kakkan. She was granted a monthly pension of ₹500 and a rent-free quarters.
In June 1988, the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, unveiled a statue of Kakkan at Melur. Nine years later, one more statue was opened in Madurai, this time by the then Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, who also declared open a memorial at the birthplace of Kakkan in February 2001. A postal stamp in his honour was released in 1999.
