E. V. K. Sampath - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Erode Venkatta Naicker Krishnasamy Sampath , usually referred to as E. V. K. Sampath was a prominent politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

from Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. He was an advocate of Dravidian Movement of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy

Erode Venkata Ramasamy , affectionately called by his followers as Periyar , Thanthai Periyar or E. V...

and was considered by some as his political heir. He later split from Periyar's Dravidar Kazhagam

Dravidar Kazhagam

Dravidar Kazhagam or Dravida Kazhagam was the first fully Dravidian party in India. It was a radical party formed by E. V. Ramaswamy, also called Thanthai Periyar of erstwhile Madras Presidency...

to form Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a state political party in the states of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, India. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N. Annadurai as a breakaway faction from the Dravidar Kazhagam headed by Periyar...

(DMK) along with C. N. Annadurai

C. N. Annadurai

Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai , popularly called Anna , or Arignar Anna was a former Chief Minister of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu...

. In spite of being one of the founders of DMK he later left and formed his own party, by the name, Tamil National party

Tamil National Party

Tamil National Party was a short-lived political party formed in 1962 in Tamil Nadu, India. The party finds its roots with the split in Dravidar Kazhagam after which Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was formed. E. V. K. Sampath, a founding member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, left the party following...

. Nevertheless, he later merged his party with the Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

. He is a former Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

from the constituency of Namakkal

He belonged to a politically active family. He was nephew of Periyar and his father was an active politician himself. He is also the father of other prominent politicians of Tamil Nadu, namely, E. V. K. S. Elangovan and Iniyan Sampath and his wife Sulochana Sampath too was in active politics, holding high ranks within the Tamil Nadu government

Government of Tamil Nadu

The Government of Tamil Nadu, headquartered at Chennai is the governing authority for the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at the Fort St. George...

Family

Sampath was born in the town of Erode

Erode

Erode is a city, a municipal corporation and the headquarters of Erode district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.It is situated at the center of the South Indian Peninsula, about southwest from the state capital Chennai and on the banks of the rivers Cauvery and Bhavani, between 11° 19.5"...

, Madras Presidency

Madras Presidency

The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...

to a Kannada

Kannada language

Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...

speaking Balija

Balija

Balija is a social group spread across the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh , Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala...

family as the son of E. V. Krishnasamy, the elder brother of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy

Erode Venkata Ramasamy , affectionately called by his followers as Periyar , Thanthai Periyar or E. V...

in 1926. Krishnasamy had extended extensive support to Periyar in his struggle for self-respect and social justice, and was one of the publishers of the journal Kudiarasu (Republic), the party organ for Justice party

Justice Party (India)

The Justice Party , officially known as South Indian Liberal Federation, was a political party in the Madras Presidency of British India. The party was established in 1917 by T. M. Nair and Theagaroya Chetty as a result of a series of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency...

.

In the year 1946 Sampath married Sulochana the daughter of Thirupathur G. Samy Naidu who was one of the pillars of the Justice party

Justice Party (India)

. Much later in life Sulochana Sampath will hold various high positions in the Tamil Nadu State Government including member of social welfare board, syndicate member of Annamalai University

Annamalai University

Annamalai University is a Public University located in Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The university offers courses of higher education in arts, sciences and engineering.The university also provides around 380 courses under distance mode...

, Chairperson of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board

Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board

Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board is administrated by Government of Tamil Nadu. It was formed by Tamil Nadu Slum Areas Act 197. The main function of this board is to eradicate the slum and provide hygienic tenements in Tamil Nadu....

, Chairperson of Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, Chairperson of Tamil Nadu Text Book Society and Chairperson of Tamil Nadu Small Scale Industries Development Corporation. Their first daughter Dr. Nagammal Venkatesh M.D, Fellow of American board of Nuclear Medicine is a Medical Practitioner in California. Their second child E.V.K.S. Elangovan is a former President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and former Union Minister of State for Textiles. Their third child Gouthaman is an entrepreneur. Mathivanan, their fourth child is a Senior Executive in the CMDA. Iniyan Sampath their last son is a former president of the Tamil Nadu Youth Congress and the Secretary of the TNCC and at present functions as the State Vice-President of the Congress Human Rights Department. Their last child Anbezhil Surya Rajukumar is a house wife.

Entry into politics

He was attracted to Periyar's self-respect movement since early days of his life. The movement aimed at achieving a society where backward castes have equal human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

, and encouraging backward castes to have self-respect in the context of a caste

Caste

Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...

based society that considered them to be a lower end of the hierarchy. As a student of the Intermediate Course in Pachaiyappa's College

Pachaiyappa's College

Pachaiyappa's College is one of the oldest educational institutions in Chennai, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The college was established as Pachaiyappa's Central Institution at Popham's Broadway on January 1, 1842, from money given in Pachaiyappa Mudaliar's will. It was the first Hindu...

in Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

, he participated in the programmes and agitations of DK. In the year 1944 he was declared as the Commander-in-chief of the Black Shirt Brigade of Periyar's movement.

In DMK

In 1949, he along with Annadurai split from the DK and formed their own party DMK. The breakaway is attributed to the marriage of Periyar to a lady much younger. The DMK picked up the Tamil Nationalistic

Tamil nationalism

Tamil nationalism in India is an aspiration by some Tamils to establish, at minimum, self determination or at maximum secession from India to establish an Independent Tamil State of which would consist of today's Tamil nadu, Puducherry and Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka...

ideologies from its parent organisation but upheld the principles of democratic party organisation. In the inaugural function they had kept one empty chair on the head of the dais for Periyar, saying that he was their permanent leader. However, faced with the reality of an independent India setting in motion the democratic process under a new Constitution

Constitution of India

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions, and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens...

, DMK preferred to keep the separatist issue on the backburner.

Breakaway from DMK

In 1961 along with Tamil poet Kannadasan

Kannadasan

Kannadasan was a Tamil poet and lyricist, heralded as one of the greatest and most important writer in the Tamil language...

and Pazha Nedumaran he found a new party Tamil National Party

Tamil National Party

. The break away is variably attributed to be caused by personal difference that arose because of ascendency of M. Karunanidhi

M. Karunanidhi

Muthuvel Karunanidhi is an Indian politician and a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He is the head of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam , a Dravidian political party in the state of Tamil Nadu. He has been the leader of the DMK since the death of its founder, C. N...

in the party and also to the differences in DMK's call for independent nation of Dravida Nadu. Sampath’s ideologies varied from those of Annadurai. The latter preferred constitutional means in pursuing a Tamil state and was keen on contesting in elections for the same. Sampath found Annadurai too moderate and pressed for more radical

Political radicalism

The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...

policies, direct actions and militant methods. Moreover, Annadurai was politically inclined towards Rajagopalachari

Rajagopalachari

Rajagopalachari is a popular name in use amongst the Iyengar community of South IndiaSome prominent Rajagopalacahris are:* C. Rajagopalachari, also known as Rajaji: Indian freedom fighter, Gandhian, leader of the Indian National Congress and founder of the Swatantra party.* Sir Perungavur...

’s Swatantra Party

Swatantra Party

The Swatantra Party was a classical liberal political party in India founded by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and N. G. Ranga in August 1959. The party opposed the Nehruvian socialist outlook of the Congress Party by advocating free enterprise and free trade, and opposing the licence-permit Raj...

, whereas Sampath was keen to ally with the Communist Party of India

Communist Party of India

The Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...

.

Later one more founder members of DMK, actor Sivaji Ganesan

Sivaji Ganesan

Viluppuram Chinnaiahpillai Ganesan Manrayar , commonly known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan , was an Indian stage and film actor active during the latter half of the 20th century. He is one of the most respected film actors in India. He is well known for his versatility and acting skills with...

would move to Sampath's TNP, after his feud with the DMK leadership and calling it a glamour party.

Merger into Congress

In 1964 Sampath, with invitation from Kamaraj merged his party with the Congress. Sampath later started Congress journals namely Tamil Cheithi, Jayaberigai (Dailies) and Alaigal (Weekly), but incurred heavy financial losses. To ensure the victory of the Congress Parliament candidates in Tamil Nadu, Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...

entrusted the entire election responsibility in the hands of Sampath in the year 1977. Sampath was made secretary of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and later appointed as the Vice-President of the TNCC. It was Sampath who translated the speeches made by Indira Gandhi into Tamil. Sampath donated his property, 'Jawahar Illam', at Erode, to be used as the Erode District Congress Committee headquarters. Till date the headquarters functions there. Sampath died on 23 February 1977. A road in Vepery, Chennai