Monday, Nov 24, 2003
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By R.K. Radhakrishnan
He was being treated at the Apollo hospitals here on his return from Houston, U.S., where he was flown for advanced treatment of a fungal infection he contracted after a valve replacement surgery. The end came a little after 7 p.m. He was 69. Mr. Maran was flown back to Chennai on September 7 from the U.S. by a special air ambulance and had been receiving treatment at the Apollo hospitals. The body was first taken to his house and later to the residence of his uncle and DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, at Gopalapuram later in the night and kept for public homage. The funeral with full state honours will take place on Monday evening. The Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was on an election campaign, called up Mr. Maran's sons and conveyed his condolences. Apart from his long political innings, Mr. Maran donned different roles as journalist, filmmaker and the man behind the first regional cable TV channel, Sun TV. Born in Tirukkuvalai (Thanjavur district) in 1932 to Shanmuga Sundaram and Shanmugasundari (Mr. Karunanidhi's sister), he rose from humble beginnings to become one of the pillars of the DMK, its veteran parliamentarian, besides a Union Minister. An articulate person who never hesitated to speak his mind, Mr. Maran was inducted into the National Front Government of V.P. Singh in 1989 as Minister for Urban Development. He represented the DMK again at the Centre in the United Front regime from 1996 to 1998 and joined the NDA Government in 1999 as the Minister for Industries and Commerce. When Annadurai vacated his Lok Sabha seat (South Madras, in 1967) to become Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, he selected Mr. Maran to contest the seat. His nomination was proposed by the three political giants of that time — Rajaji, Anna and Quaid-e-Milleth. The imposition of internal Emergency was a testing time of political loyalties. Mr. Maran stood solidly behind Mr. Karunanidhi, and was jailed for a year under the provisions of the draconian Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). Both as a parliamentarian and then as a Minister, Mr. Maran travelled widely abroad and never hesitated to look at the right models for India to adopt. Despite his `pro-reforms' tag, Mr. Maran did not hesitate to take on the developed countries at Doha to defend the rights of the developing countries under the WTO. Ultimately, some of India's views were accommodated in the consensus. In November 2000, Mr. Maran was hospitalised in Chennai following complaints of chest pain. Cardiac specialists then used the alcohol ablation technique to bring him back from the brink. On July 22, 2002, he was again admitted, this time to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, where he underwent a valve replacement surgery. A fungal growth in the replaced valve led to the third serious hospitalisation again at the Apollo hospitals here on September 23 the same year. After a partial recovery, he was taken to the Methodist Hospital in Houston in November 2002 for special treatment. He is survived by his wife, Mallika, two sons — Kalanidhi and Dayanidhi — and a daughter, Anbukkarasi.
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