Sathyavani Muthu

Sathyavani Muthu Biography

Sathyavani Muthu was an influential leader, politician and former cabinet minister from Tamil Nadu. She was first among the two non-Congress Dravidian party leaders who got opportunity to serve as a cabinet minister at Central Government. She was a member of Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and has closely worked with former politician M. G. Ramachandran. Started her political career with DMK, she started her own party - Thazhthapattor Munnetra Kazhagam (Progressive Federation of the Oppressed), to represent dalits, in 1974. The short-lived party was eventually merged with Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) led by M. G. Ramachandran in 1977, when ADMK came into power. She was an MLA, a Rajya Sabha member and former Union Minister too. She passed away on 11 November 1999 aged 76.

She started her political journey as a member of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, since the beginning of the party in 1949. In 1954 she got arrested for leading the DMK's protests against the Kula Kalvi Thittam. As a party member she rose to fame in the 1950s and reached till the position of propaganda secretary of the party in 1958. She also served as the editor of the magazine Annai. She successfully contested state assembly elections for the first time in 1957 as an independent candidate from Perambur constituency. However she lost her MLA seat in 1962 elections from the same constituency.

In 1967 she bounced back and got elected in the state assembly elections from the same constituency. She retained her MLA seat in 1971 too. However she lost twice in 1977 and 1984 state assembly elections. She served as a cabinet minister of C. N. Annadurai, where she held the position of Harijan welfare and Information from 1967 to 1969. She held the same position till 1974 in M. Karunanidhi’s cabinet too. She resigned her position in DMK in 1974 and started her own party - Thazhthapattor Munnetra Kazhagam the same year. Later when MGR came into power in 1977, her party got merged with it. She served as a Rajya Sabha member representing ADMK (1978-1984) and a cabinet minister of Charan Singh in 1979.

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Updated: June 04, 2016