Govindaswamy Karuppiah Moopanar (19 August 1931 – 30 August 2001), known as G. K. Moopanar, was a

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) is the wing of Indian National Congress serving in Tamil Nadu. It is responsible for organizing and coordinating the party's activities and campaigns within the state, as well as selecting candidates for loca ...

leader, parliamentarian, and social worker. He served as Member of the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, president of

and general secretary of

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...

. from 1980 to 1988. Moopanar was a close associate of Congress leader and former

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief mini ...

K. Kamaraj Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras from 13 April 1954 to 2 October 1963. He also served as the pr ...

Early life

Moopanar was born on 19 August 1931 at Kabisthalam village in the composite Thanjavur district, the rice granary of Tamil Nadu. His father was R. Govindaswamy Moopanar and his mother was Saraswathi Ammal. He belonged to a family of landed aristocracy that owned vast tracts of fertile land. His father R. Govindaswamy Moopanar was a Congressman. The family patronised music, arts and literature. Moopanar himself was president of the Tiruvaiyaru Sri Thyaga Brahma Mahotsava Sabha from 1980 until his death. This Sabha conducts the annual Thyagaraja music festival at Thiruvaiyaru, the saint-composer’s birthplace.Makkalthalaivar GK Moopanar » Life History
Makkalthalaivar.org. Retrieved on 12 November 2018.

Political career

Moopanar first met Kamaraj and

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...

when they called on his father Govindasamy Moopanar at his home at Sundaraperumal Kovil, near Kumbakonam, in 1951. Kamaraj was then TNCC president. Moopanar became the president of the Thanjavur district Congress committee in 1965. When the Congress split in 1969 Moopanar continued with Kamaraj. After Kamaraj’s death on 2 October 1975, the two Congress factions in Tamil Nadu merged in 1976. At the merger function,

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

announced that Moopanar would be the president of the unified TNCC. From then onwards, his rise in the Congress was swift. He was TNCC president from 1976 to 1980, and again in 1988–89. He was a puissant AICC general secretary from 1980 to 1988. Moopanar founded the

Tamil Maanila Congress The Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) (; TMC(M)) is an Indian regional political party in the state of Tamil Nadu. It was founded by the former member of parliament of the Republic of India G. K. Moopanar on 29 March 1996 as a breakaway f ...

in the year 1996 (TMC) party. He was a Rajya Sabha member when he died. Both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi offered him ministership but he declined. Ayya G

He also shunned the Prime Minister’s post offered to him in April 1997 after the fall of the United Front government led by

H.D. Deve Gowda Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda (; born 18 May 1933) is an Indian politician who served as the prime minister of India from 1996 to 1997. He previously served as the chief minister of Karnataka from 1994 to 1996 and as a Member of Parliam ...

. In a volume titled Makkal Thalaivar Moopanar, published by a TMC leader in August 2000, former Union Minister R. Dhanuskodi Athithan has recalled that CPI(M) general secretary

Harkishan Singh Surjeet Harkishan Singh Surjeet (23 March 1916 – 1 August 2008) was an Indian Communist politician from Punjab, who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 1992 to 2005 and was a member of the party's Polit Bu ...

declared that "Mr. Moopanar is the best and first choice" for the prime ministership. West Bengal Chief Minister

Jyoti Basu Jyoti Basu (born Jyotirindra Basu; 8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010) was an Indian Marxist theorist, communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders of Communist movement in India. He served as the 6th and longest ...

seconded the choice. However Karunanithi and

Murasoli Maran Murasoli Maran (17 August 1934, Thirukkuvalai – 23 November 2003) was an Indian politician and leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, which was headed by his maternal uncle and mentor, M. Karunanidhi. A Member of Parliament fo ...

did not agree to it, so Moopanar declined the offer. The TMC felt orphaned with the death of Moopanar. The party quickly tried to steady itself when at a meeting of its legislators, Rajya Sabha members and leaders on 1 September, Moopanar’s son G.K. Vasan was elected TMC president. G karuppaiah moopanaar memorial

After the demise of Moopanar, under the new leadership of his son

G K Vasan G. K. Vasan (born Govindaswamy Karuppiah Vasan, 28 December 1964) is an Indian Politician and son of G. K. Moopanar, a veteran Indian National Congress Leader. G. K. Vasan is currently the president of Tamil Maanila Congress (M), a politic ...

, the TMC merged back with the Congress led by

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (, ; ; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a big-tent liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moopanar 1931 births 2001 deaths Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu Politicians from Thanjavur district Tamil Maanila Congress politicians Tamil Nadu MLAs 1989–1991 Leaders of the opposition in Tamil Nadu Presidents of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee