As the State mourns the death of the DMK president M. Karunanidhi, many people familiar with Tamil music will recall the strong friendship between him and singer ‘Isai murasu’ Esmail Mohamed Hanifa.
It was a bond forged in adolescence that tied Karunanidhi, an avowed atheist, with Hanifa, who started his career as a singer of Muslim devotional songs, and remained, despite his foray into politics, most closely associated to music.
Hanifa’s rise to fame as the ‘voice’ of the DMK and his proximity to leaders such as E.V.R. Periyar, C.N. Annadurai and Karunanidhi have become an indelible part of the political history of Tamil Nadu.
Karunanidhi, who was gaining a reputation for his oratory skills even as a schoolboy, met Hanifa when he went to work for his paternal uncle Abu Bakr Rowther in Tiruvarur. The two teenagers were soon inseparable.
“My father used to sing before the lecture meetings organised by Karunanidhi, without any musical accompaniment or payment, to attract crowds on the dry riverbed of the Odampokki in Tiruvarur,” Hanifa’s son Naushad Ali had said in an earlier interview with The Hindu MetroPlus.
Hanifa’s rousing anthems boosted the fortunes of Tamil political parties from the 1930s. His ‘Oadi varugiran Udhayasooriyan’, ‘Kallakkudi konda Karunanidhi vaazhgave’, ‘Nee engae senrai Anna’ and ‘Azhaikkinrar Anna’ are still used by the DMK to raise party morale.
Fans of his voice, at once stentorian and artistic, belong to various parties. The two shared warm vibes and continued to support each other ideologically and physically, well into their advanced years. In fact, the 10th state-level DMK conference held in Tiruchi in February 2014 was the first one that Hanifa missed since the party was launched in 1949, as he had stopped performing in public.
Hanifa passed away on April 8, 2015 at the age of 96. “I cannot believe that I have lost one of my best friends today,” the DMK supremo was reported as saying in an emotional homage. “He served our party and State wonderfully through his music. No DMK meeting has ever started or concluded without Hanifa’s concerts. His songs will continue to resound in my ears even though my dear friend is no more.”
Nagore Hanifa never made it in politics, despite contesting Assembly elections twice (in 1958 and 2002) and becoming chairman of the state Waqf Board (2007). However, neither Karunanidhi nor Hanifa allowed their divergent political fortunes to tarnish their brotherly affection for each other.
