When an unknown 29-year-old took on K. Kamaraj in 1962

A modest house at Sattur off the busy Madurai-Tirunelveli National Highway has an unassuming resident with an impressive history to his credit. Sixty-four years ago, the resident, P. Ramamoorthy, now 92, volunteered to fight against the then all-powerful Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, K. Kamaraj, in Sattur.

“I was hardly 29. As I was young, I wanted to contest in the Assembly election and become an MLA. I did not think much about [the consequences of] contesting against Kamaraj,” Mr. Ramamoorthy says, hastening to add that he had nothing personal against the former Chief Minister, who was a “good man”, having done much for the State. “His hands were clean,” he emphasises.

Inspiring speeches

It was when Mr. Ramamoorthy was an employee of a private company that the idea of entering electoral politics struck him. “I found speeches of Thevar [Forward Bloc leader U. Muthuramalinga Thevar] inspiring. Those days [in 1962], he was staying in Tiruchi, after having been acquitted in the Immanuel Sekaran murder case. I conveyed my desire to him. It was on his advice that I joined the Swatantra Party and became its nominee for Sattur.” However, the decision to contest against Kamaraj was not an easy one for him. His father M.K. Pappu  Naidu was a long-standing Congress member, having served as the  Muthusamipuram village panchayat president for 20 years and the composite Ramanathapuram district board member in 1936, apart from being a member of the Congress committees for Sattur taluk  and Ramanathapuram district. “Besides, my community, Kammavar  Naidu, loved Kamaraj and played an important role in his rise in politics,” Mr. Ramamoorthy says.

But, soon, Mr. Ramamoorthy came under pressure from his community. Many representatives of the community tried to convince him to opt out of the race. Notwithstanding his father’s record in the Congress, “he was with me through thick and thin. He would tell the visitors that his son is a young man, wanting to face an election. Let him do that”. Besides, there was an element of fear on the part of the Swatantra  Party nominee that the then ruling party might do everything to get Kamaraj elected unopposed, as was done, according to Mr.  Ramamoorthy, in respect of T.T. Krishnamachari, who was declared elected from the Tiruchendur Lok Sabha constituency without facing any contestant. At that time, there were simultaneous elections.

The 1962 election did not generate any surprise. Kamaraj won hands down. He defeated Mr. Ramamoorthy by 13,444 votes, the percentage of the difference being about 16%. Those days, the constituency’s electorate was 1,01,991 and the votes polled were 86,338. The winner netted 46,950 votes. According to the final electoral rolls published in February 2026, the present electorate of Sattur is 2,27,963. On the election expenditure in 1962, the Sattur contestant recalls that it was around ₹50,000, “most of which was borne by the party”.

‘False case’

He claims that his decision did not go without experiencing “repulsion”. After the poll, a “false case” was foisted on him. Though he was convicted by the trial court, he was acquitted on an appeal, the outcome of which became possible, thanks to the intervention of his party founder C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), who had requested a leading criminal lawyer to argue his case.

Five years later, the party, in recognition of his decision to contest against the former Chief Minister, put him up in the Sivakasi Lok Sabha constituency. This time, the Swatantra Party was an ally of the DMK, which faced the election by forming a coalition comprising the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Praja Socialist Party, the  Samyukta Socialist Party, the Forward Bloc, the Tamil Arasu Kazhagam, the ‘We Tamils’ party and the Muslim League. Mr. Ramamoorthy made it to Parliament, garnering about 1.94 lakh votes and defeating the nearest rival from the Congress, P. A. Nadar, by 31,600 votes. In the Assembly election, Kamaraj tasted his only electoral setback when he lost to P. Seenivasan of the DMK in Virudhunagar. Seenivasan’s age, too, was 29.

Only after Kamaraj won in the 1969 Nagercoil Lok Sabha by-election did Mr. Ramamoorthy meet him in Parliament. Two years later, when  Rajaji decided to team up with Kamaraj to face the 1971 poll, the  Sivakasi parliamentarian could not come to terms with his leader’s decision, as his party had all along been working on the theme of anti-Congress and anti-Kamaraj. He quit electoral politics, though he was approached by leaders of Indira Gandhi’s Congress and the DMK. However, he has never failed to perform his democratic duty by voting in the elections. He hopes to vote this April 23 too.

Published – April 03, 2026 11:51 pm IST