Aladi Aruna

Aladi Aruna Biography

Aladi Aruna was an Indian politician and parliamentarian from Tamil Nadu belonging to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party (DMK). He was a former cabinet minister too, in Karunanidhi’s cabinet. His daughter Poongothai Aladi Aruna is currently a leading politician from Tamil Nadu. She served as Minister for Social Welfare and Nutritious Noon Meal Programme during 13 May 2006 – 21 May 2008, and Minister for Information Technology during 28 February 2009 – 15 May 2011. She is a practicing doctor and Gynaecologist by profession. Aladi Aruna won 1967 and 1971 state assembly elections from Alangulam constituency. He also served as Law Minister of Tamil Nadu. He was one among the early leaders of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, and held a very influential position within state politics. He was murdered in 2004.

Aladi Aruna was born in Aladipatti, Tamil Nadu in the year 1933. His birth place now belongs to Tirunelveli district. Vaithiyalingam Nadar and Pathirakaaliyammal were his parents. He was the eldest of 5 siblings. He was born into a family of priests. But he was strongly influenced by the rationalist movement spearheaded by Periyar. He entered the political movement as a young leader, and rose to prominence and became a cabinet minister.

In 1962 he unsuccessfully contested state assembly elections for the first time. He got elected to the Assembly on two occasions in 1967 and 1971 as a DMK candidate. Known for his contributions towards organizing beedi workers to form cooperative societies, he got elected to Lok Sabha election in 1977 from Tirunelveli. He also served as the leader of the AIADMK in the Rajya Sabha since 1984. He has authored several books in English and Tamil, and regarded as one of the foremost Dravidian writers in English.

He founded Einstein College of Engineering in Tamil Nadu in 2004. Same year he was murdered. He was killed when he was out for a morning walk with two friends. One of his friends also got killed while the second one survived. Local educationist S. A. Raja was accused of the murder, got arrested but acquitted too. The high court could not establish that he was guilty.

His daughter Poongothai Aladi Aruna began her political journey only in the mid-2000s after his death. Till then she was fully active in her medical career. She was given a ticket to contest 2006 elections following her father’s murder, and she won it. She represented her father’s favourite Alangulam constituency. She served as Minister for Social Welfare and Nutritious Noon Meal Programme, followed by Minister of IT in Karunanidhi’s cabinet. It was for the first time a separate minister was assigned for IT department. Following Nira Radia tapes scandal, she had to resign her post.

Published: October 30, 2018

Updated: October 30, 2018