The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was founded with the sole objective of socio-economic uplift of the weaker sections, the suppressed communities and for the welfare of the working class like weavers and fishermen, said M.K.Stalin, Deputy Chief Minister and party treasurer, here on Friday.
Addressing the newly enrolled members of the DMK, Mr. Stalin advised them to understand the cause for which the DMK was established . "Anna did not aim at capturing power immediately. In fact, the DMK contested the elections only in 1957," he pointed out.
In contrast, a mushroom growth of political parties was being witnessed in the present scenario. But the irony was that the founders of those parties were greedy to capture the power immediately. "Many of these leaders have been rejected by the people," he said.
Mr. Stalin recalled the close association of the DMK with Tiruchi district. It was the district that decided the political course of the party in 1956 whena public referendum was conducted to decide whether the party should contest the Assembly elections .
Again, it was Kulithalai (now in Karur district) Assembly constituency of the then Tiruchi districtfrom where Mr. Karunanidhi was elected for the first time to the Assembly.
The history of the DMK has not been a bed of roses rather a blend of success and defeats in the various Assembly and Parliamentary elections.
The party has annexed maximum segments in several elections.
However, it had been routed at other times. But the DMK cadre had been adopting a balanced strategy -neither losing self-control over victory nor losing heart at the end of failure – he said. Over 4,000 workers from other political parties and trade unions joined the DMK.
K. N. Nehru, State Transport Minister, N. Selvaraj, State Forest Minister and S. Gandhiselvan, Union Minister of State for Health were present.
