M.G. Ramachandran: Tamil Nadu’s charismatic leader who won his first and last elections from hospital beds

Matinee idol and former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) must be the only person to have won his first and last election to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from hospital beds. 

In his biography on R.M. Veerappan – RMV Oru Thondar (A cadre), Rani Maindhan recalls the 1967 Assembly elections that put the DMK in the seat of power for the first time. 

MGR was chosen to contest from St. Thomas Mount (Parangimalai), one of the biggest constituencies in Tamil Nadu, and fortress of the Congress. Starting from Tiruvanmiyur, it sprawled over to villages on the OMR, Pallavaram Municipality and parts of Tambaram. 

“MGR had finished his first round of campaign when he was shot by M.R. Radha,” says R. Kannan, MGR’s biographer. He was hospitalised for two months. In February, MGR issued a statement from hospital bed stating the Congress rule had brought only tears to people. Soon, posters bearing MGR’s image with a bandaged neck and folded palms seeking votes were pasted everywhere in the State, he says. 

Meanwhile, an election rule had been introduced making it mandatory for the candidate to come in person to file the affidavit. But, a request was made to make the election officials visit MGR at the hospital and surprisingly, an exception was made. 

As MGR could not travel for campaign, RMV consulted with the actor’s elder brother M.G. Chakkarapani. They convinced MGR to agree to a photo to be used for campaign, according to RMV’s biography. The charismatic star reluctantly agreed. Despite commotion and violence ahead of the elections, MGR won by a margin of 27,000 votes. 

In the 1971 elections, MGR was the party treasurer and had grown in influence. C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) and Kamaraj had joined hands in a grand alliance. Thespian Sivaji Ganesan was being propped as their star campaigner. By now, differences had begun creeping between MGR and then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. MGR was not scheduled to campaign at the beginning due to their ego clash. RMV mediated and then MGR undertook a whirlwind campaign for 15 days beginning with Kanniyakumari and the DMK romped home by winning 180 seats.

After floating the ADMK (later rechristened AIADMK) in 1972, MGR started drawing bigger crowds. In Coimbatore, people broke barricades and stormed the aircraft that had landed on the runway.

Campaign with cut-outs

In 1977, MGR adopted a novel method of campaigning by sending out his life-size cut-outs in jeeps to far-flung villages in his rural Aruppukottai constituency in Ramanathapuram district.

Huge crowds sometimes waited for hours running late into the night to have a glimpse of their hero’s cutout. The AIADMK leader, pressed for time, has taken to this method as he felt he cannot cover the entire sprawling constituency even once. The constituency consisted of 256 villages, some of which were not accessible by any mode of trans-port except by foot.

According to a report in The Hindu, when the jeeps with the cut-outs went around the villages, many people, including women, performed ‘arti’ and broke coconuts before it. A record player in the jeep played specially-composed songs praising MGR as sung by popular playback singers, followed by his recorded message promising a clean government and other progressive measures.

Pro-poor

In 1980, MGR began a tour of his Madurai West constituency with the blessings of the Bishop of the Madurai. In Tirumangalam, he warned voters against the “hospitality” of opponents who were capable of serving “poisoned intoxicants.”

At Kallipalti, he assured the farmers that if his party were returned to power he would see that the debts of the poor farmers were written off and repaid to the Reserve Bank by the State government without seeking the Centre’s aid, again reinforcing his image of the “saviour of the poor.”

In 1984, MGR had been hospitalised, first in Apollo Hospital, Chennai, and then flown to Brooklyn State Hospital in New York. Meanwhile, elections to the Parliament and Tamil Nadu Assembly were announced to be held in December. MGR, who could neither speak nor sign, filed his nomination for the Andipatti constituency in the presence of the Indian consul general in New York.

Video campaign

Following his surgery, MGR’s recovery was quick. His mind was agile and politically aware, says Mr. Kannan in his biography. From his hospital bed, he carefully followed the happenings back home. His routine was to read the newspapers thoroughly and surf the television. Meanwhile back home, the Opposition maintained that MGR was dead and preserved in an icebox and the public was buying this argument, he notes.

One day, RMV convened a press conference at the Secretariat in Madras and released pictures of MGR showing two – leaves symbol, his wife Janaki by his side. The press had a field day. But, the Opposition countered saying they were all shot in Apollo Hospital. With a few days to polling, RMV came up with another brilliant idea. Palani G. Periasamy, who was with MGR and his wife Janaki Ramachandran, shot a video and sent it across. There was a technical glitch. RMV got AVM Saravanan, his friend and film producer, to help him out. M.S. Guhan, Saravanan’s son, flew to Singapore to convert the tape into a playable format here.

Along with Valampuri John’s narration, the video was released in over 100 theatres and screened across Tamil Nadu, according to RMV’s biography. AIADMK won easily and MGR became the Chief Minister again.

“MGR was naturally a charismatic man. He connected to the people easily. At times of natural disasters and wars, he was the first or largest contributor to the cause. He had too good an image. People thought he was one of the Gods,” says Mr. Kannan.

Published – March 29, 2026 07:39 pm IST