Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), a top cinema hero-turned mass leader, remains a darling of the masses 35 years after his passing on December 24, 1987. As counsel for MGR, his party, AIADMK, and party functionaries, I have watched him at close quarters.

MGR will be remembered in history for his signature project of Nutritious Noon-Meal Scheme for school children aged above 2. Under the scheme, introduced in 1982, poor school children were provided healthy food, tooth powder, uniform and footwear. I knew that many poor families sent their children to school because of this scheme which drove up enrolment.

In 1985, three years since the scheme was started, [former Prime Minister] Manmohan Singh, who was then the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, which played a role in the allocation of funds and resources to the States, refused to allocate resources for the scheme, which was seen as a waste of resources. MGR went to Delhi to meet Dr. Singh.

When Dr. Singh asked MGR and the officials who accompanied him how the scheme could be funded, MGR stood up without speaking a word and walked out. The officers followed him. However, within minutes after the then Prime Minister intervened, the file was cleared and the issue was amicably resolved.

Interestingly, in 2013, the Union government, headed by the very same Dr. Singh, accepted MGR’s policy and a nationwide mid-day meal programme was announced for school children. And it was enshrined in the National Food Security Act by his UPA government.

During May-June 1980, when MGR was the Chief Minister, the storage in the Mettur dam was very low. Karnataka refused to release water to Tamil Nadu. One fine morning, MGR paid a surprise visit to Karnataka and landed straight at the house of Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, who was caught unawares and invited him to breakfast. After entering the drawing room, MGR suddenly had a fit of hiccups, whereupon his host offered him a glass of water. All that MGR said was, “Maybe, my hiccups are representative of the condition of Tamil Nadu today. Will you offer it water, too?” The two laughed and the very next day, Karnataka released water.

However, a barter deal was arrived at between the two States. Under it, Tamil Nadu supplied electricity in return for the water released by Karnataka. Later, when R. Gundu Rao was the Chief Minister of Karnataka, there was again a shortfall in the supply of Cauvery water.

This time, MGR rang up Rao (who incidentally happened to be his ardent fan) for a breakfast meeting at his residence in Chennai. Before Rao took leave after the meeting, MGR gently reminded him of the Cauvery water. Rao said he would take care of the issue.

On reaching Bangalore the same day, Rao directed PWD engineers in charge of the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam to conduct maintenance for two days. This facilitated the flow of water from the dam to Biligundlu, the inter-State contact point between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

These two breakfast meetings were proof of the fact that MGR used the tool of diplomacy in resolving inter-State disputes like the Cauvery water crisis during the cultivation season in Tamil Nadu.

MGR also liberalised higher education, both technical and medical, and allowed private players to build infrastructure for engineering and medical education. It is because of this initiative that Tamil Nadu became the centre of higher learning.

Commenting on MGR’s administrative ability, former Director-General of Police K. Mohandas in his book ‘MGR: The Man and the Myth’ noted, “It took some time for MGR the actor to catch up with the nitty-gritty of administration and, more importantly, to change his lifestyle. But once he started seriously addressing the tasks of administration, the bureaucrats were impressed by his native wisdom and ability to quickly grasp the essentials. His unfamiliarity with the English language was a handicap which he, however, got over in a reasonably short time.”

MGR was unique and will be remembered as a popular leader because of the success of his welfare schemes. Those who attempt to imitate him must remember that it is not easy to appropriate his legacy.

(The author is a former

Advocate-General of Tamil Nadu.)