[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 142 (Friday, August 24, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING MUTHUVEL KARUNANITHI

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, August 24, 2018

  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, some of my Tamil 
American constituents brought to my attention the passing of an 
extraordinary man: Muthuvel Karunanithi who was born June 3, 1924 and 
passed away August 7, 2018.
  Muthuvel Karunanithi became involved in social justice issues at age 
of 14, publishing a handwritten journal that has been published as a 
weekly ever since. He wrote regularly until he fell ill at the age of 
92.
  Muthuvel Karunanithi was a poet, writer, publisher, orator, novelist, 
and literary critic in the Tamil language. His books sold millions of 
copies and his movie scripts shattered old boundaries of political 
possibility, articulating a new vision of human relationships.
  He ran for political office thirteen times and never lost over a 
seventy year period. He was chief minister of the state of Tamil Nadu 
in southern India five times. His career was marked by a lifelong 
commitment to breaking the barriers of the caste system, especially for 
the lowest caste people who handle human waste. Karunanithi led a 
successful effort for an affirmative action program for their 
admittance to medical schools and subsequent admission to the practice 
of medicine. He visited Chicago in 1972.
  Muthuvel Karunanithi was a man from the lowest rung of the social 
ladder who climbed the highest political mountains, but kept his 
lifestyle simple and his thoughts and actions fixed on the highest 
aspirations for all of his people.

                          ____________________