When two warring groups of the Congress metin Thirupparankundram for talks 80 years ago

Thirupparankundram is in the news these days due to controversy over the lighting of a traditional lamp near the Subramaniyaswamy temple during the Tamil month of Karthigai (mid-November to mid-December). Eighty years ago, the same place saw two warring factions in the State unit of the Congress breaking the ice, but no final resolution of the power struggle between them was reached at that time. While one group was headed by Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K. Kamaraj, the other was headed by senior leader C. Rajagopalachari (CR or Rajaji).

At the Thirupparankundram conference in October 1945, Rajaji’s formal re-entry into the organization was discussed. The party left the organization in August 1942, before launching the Quit India struggle, due to differences with Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders of the party over the Muslim League’s demand for the creation of Pakistan and the agitation. The conference was held following the lifting of a three-year ban on the Congress party following Labour’s stunning success in the UK general election in July 1945.

In the first week of September 1945, notification came from Thiruchengodu taluk (then in Salem district and now in Namakkal district) for a vacant position in TNCC. The election was held on September 5 and Rajaji was elected as he was the only candidate. “ [Taluk Congress] The committee duly declared Rajaji’s election as a member of the Tamil Nadu State Congress Committee and delegate of the Indian National Congress,” wrote the Hindu in a brief report dated September 8. (The vacancy arose due to his resignation from the party in 1942.) But the development, according to Kamaraj, came as a surprise. Kamaraj: A Study (VK Narasimhan, National Book Foundation2008) knew nothing about it. He immediately challenged the validity of the election, which was held at a time when there were efforts for rapprochement between the groups. Even the idea of ​​a joint tour by Rajaji and Kamaraj was mooted as there were widespread expectations that state assembly elections would be held soon.

Unsurprisingly, but much to the irritation of the TNCC chief, Congress president Maulana Abul Kalam Azad made public his correspondence with Rajaji in August and welcomed Rajaji’s decision to rejoin the party. Kamaraj, who had developed a strong emotional hostility towards Rajaji upon the removal of his mentor S. Satyamurti from the Congress Council of Ministers in the Madras Presidency in 1937, but in his own comment he cited the party’s rules which did not allow Rajaji to be elected.

Organizational rules

Inside Kamaraj: Oru ShahaptamExperienced Congress leader A. Gopanna reminds that according to AICC and TNCC rules, a person has to be a member for three consecutive years, and Rajaji did not comply with this rule. Moreover, the prevailing mood in the party was against his integration into the organisation; this situation was also reflected in the meeting of Congress workers in Ariylaur; here, 670 out of 674 delegates voted in favor of a resolution to exclude from the party those who did not participate in the 1942 struggle. Kamaraj was still in jail in Amaravati in Maharashtra when the Ariylaur incident took place. The lead up to the Thirupparankundram conference was marked by debate between two groups expressing views for and against Rajaji’s re-accession. At a public meeting attended by around 15,000 people in Thanjavur in mid-October, this newspaper reported on October 19, Rajaji said that he had “no quarrel” with the State leaders when he left the Congress in 1942 and that his differences were with the All India Congress Committee (AICC). When he decided to serve the Congress again, he “naturally implied” this to the all-India panel. Moreover, when he approached the Congress president for readmission, none of the State-level Congress Committees were functioning.

On October 30, the day before the proposed conference of the TNCC, the working committee of the State unit met at the conference venue; 13 out of 14 members took part here; The only absentee was CP Subbiah, who contested against Kamaraj for the presidential post in 1940.

After the meeting was over, journalists mentioned the Rajaji incident in their interactions with the TNCC chief and asked if anything noteworthy had happened in the meeting that day. Answer: “There are absolutely no glitches or problems.” While the discussions of the working committee were continuing, news spread that Mahatma Gandhi supported Rajaji.

In a letter to Foreign Minister Harijan Sevak Sangh LN Gopalaswami, Gandhi said that accusing Rajaji of “treason” meant “not recognizing him”. He said Rajaji was “too good to do anything meaningful”.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Provincial Congress Committee had decided not to allow Rajaji to become a “four-year member” of the Congress; This move triggered a strong reaction from pro-Rajaji members of TNCC, who met separately at Thirupparankundram on 31 October and passed the counter-motion. In fact, these members were among the 200 people who claimed that they were not allowed to attend the workers’ meeting held the previous afternoon, despite being duly elected members of the TNCC. In fact, Gopalaswami had also initially complained that he was not allowed to attend the workers’ meeting, but since he was also a member of the State Congress Committee, he was eventually granted the right to attend the meeting. She had lost her purse and pen in the clash, but volunteers contributed ₹100 to her on the spot.

Inaugurating the workers’ meeting chaired by KP Yegneswara Sarma, former TNCC chief CN Muthuranga Mudaliar indirectly attacked the Rajaji faction that was trying to enjoy the fruits of power despite keeping itself out of the Congress during the 1942-45 period when most of the party members suffered “untold suffering” in prisons.

Although on D-Day there were objections from TSS Rajan, a close associate of Rajaji, on the procedural aspects of a motion reiterating the State Working Committee’s stand against Rajaji’s election, Kamaraj had eventually taken a conciliatory tone. This decision received support from leaders including U. Muthuramalinga Thevar, who later left the Congress and became the head of the Forward Bloc. Although the investigation later continued towards the validity of the election, Kamaraj used the Thirupparankundram conference to declare that he “wholeheartedly welcomes” Rajaji’s re-entry into the party and would accept his cooperation. Political differences between the state’s two major leaders, Rajaji and Kamaraj, continued for nearly 25 years until the two formed a coalition in 1971 to oppose a front that included the Congress and DMK, led by Indira Gandhi.

It was published – 19 December 2025 08:25 IST