General Elections were expected to be held in India in early 1967 and therefore February 1966 was the last opportunity for the Government of the day to summarise its aims, objectives and achievements through that year’s Presidential Address. The Presidential Address was in the nature of a stock-taking on what the Government had achieved. It was also equally an opportunity for leaders of the Opposition to take a critical look at the achievements of the Government prior to the impending General Elections. As the Leader of the DMK Party, who was to come to power in the then State of Madras in early 1967, Anna was utilizing the occasion of the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address to do his own stock-taking of the problems facing the country. He found no rationale for the continuance of emergency legislation and Defence of India Regulations which were enacted following the Chinese attack in 1962 and demanded their repeal. He deplored the non-availability of even drinking water in some parts of the country. He condemned the pathetic dependence of the country on foreign aid and import of food grains even after 18 years of Independence. He spoke of the grinding poverty of the masses and widespread all-round frustration in the country. Anna’s debating skill consisted in proving the inefficiency, corruption and mismanagement of the Congress Party by quoting from what the accredited spokesmen of that party including its President had said. He quoted the then President of the Congress, Thiru K. Kamaraj Nadar to say that his party “has not succeeded in lessening let alone removing the disparity between the rich and poor”. He quoted others like Acharya Vinobha Bhave and Gulzarilal Nanda. Raising the separate of a violent revolution he warned that the angry new generation cannot be fed by the harvest of the gladness of the past generation. In the General Elections that followed in 1967, the Congress Party at the Centre fared badly and had to depend on the support of the DMK and Members of other Progressive Parties in Parliament for carrying out its policies and programmes till the General Elections in 1971 following the Congress split gave that Party an absolute majority in the Parliament. In the 1967 General Elections, many stalwarts of the Congress Party were repudiated by the electorates in their own constituencies including the then Congress President, Thiru K. Kamaraj Nadar. The DMK Party led by Anna was given a massive mandate to rule the State of Madras which was one of the Congress strongholds.
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