Thiru SD Somasundaram, (), popularly known as S.D.S., was a veteran political leader and administrator who served as a Cabinet Minister of state.
Early life and background
Somasundaram was born in a hamlet of Sendankadu near Pattukottai town from an agricultural family. Thiru Somasundaram was an active social worker and was associated with various social organisations. He pursued a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) in Mechanical Engineering from Annamalai University. He was an athlete and played football during college. He also participated in a marathon race representing Tamil Nadu. After graduating, Thiru started working as an assistant engineer in the Public Works Department.
Thiru S.D.S. began his political career as an activist of the Dravidar Kazhagam in 1947 and joined the D.M.K. when the late C.N. Annadurai founded the party in 1949. He was first elected to parliament from the Thanjavur Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu in 1967 after defeating R. Venkatraman of the Indian National Congress, the former president of India. He was re-elected from the same constituency in 1971 and 1977 on DMK and AIADMK tickets, respectively.
In 1972, he was among the first to leave the D.M.K., along with M.G. Ramachandran (M.G.R.). He was considered by the AIADMK middle and lower-level workers as a simple man who connected with them and was also known as an honest politician. M.G.R. held the activities of S.D.S. much closer to his heart. He resigned from his M.P. post in 1977 and was nominated to the now-defunct legislative council.
S.D.S served as a member of the Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament during 1971–72, the Committee on Private Members' Bills and Resolutions during 1973–74, House Committee in 1977, and the General Purposes Committee during 1977–78. He was the first insider to question M.G.R. about the widespread corruption during his term as chief minister. As a result of differences that existed between him and M.G.R., he decided to quit AIADMK and floated his party "Namathu Kazhagam", meaning "Our Party." Later, he quickly folded his new party due to a lack of mass appeal and returned to the AIADMK to be in J. Jayalalitha's camp and served as revenue minister from 1991 to 1996.
Somasundaram was in charge of conducting the 8th Tamil World Conference at Thanjavur during his tenure as the revenue minister. Subsequently, due to a difference of opinion with J. Jayalalithaa, he quit AIADMK again and floated another party called "Puratchi Thalaivar AIADMK."
Mr. S.D. Somasundaram died on December 6th 2001, in Chennai, aged 79.
Personal life
Perarignar Anna held the marriage of SDS with Sakunthala on the 6th December 1962 with the presence of distinguished Dravidian party members. Anna referred to SDS as his fraternal brother and was proud to head the wedlock. The couple has two sons. Their eldest son, Duraimanickam, works with Chennai Port Trust as a “Superdent Engineer", and the younger son SDS is a correspondent and political figure.
Education and political life
Former: Member of Parliament, Revenue Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu. Formerly, General Secretary of "Dravida Maanavar Munnetra Kazhagam" (the Student's Wing of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - DMK), Propaganda Secretary of "Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam"-ADMK, Deputy General Secretary of All Indian Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-AIADMK, Founder Leader of "Namadhu Kazhagam" & Founder Leader of "Puratchi Thalaivar Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam"
The rational thoughts of the "Thanthai Periyar" and the reformative orations of the Supreme leader "Perarignar Anna" inspired SDS, who joined their 'self-respect movement' at an early age and committed to following them in their selfless efforts to eradicate untouchability, the wellbeing of the downtrodden and to hold equality among the people of the various educational and economic groups of the society for the harmony of the Dravidian people.
When "Thanthai Periyar" undertook the leadership of "Dravidar Kazhagam" in 1944, SDS as a high school student, stood to form "Orathanadu Manavar Dravidar Kazhagam", attending in a black shirt and recruiting other students into the 'self-respect movement'.
In 1949 SDS followed "Perarignar Anna" and joined his DMK. SDS was later made the first "General Secretary of the Dravida Maanavar Munnetra Kazhagam (DMMK)". He continued as the General Secretary for 13 years.
As General Secretary of DMMK and student of Annamalai University, SDS successfully conducted fourteen state DMMK conferences, which sowed Anti-Hindi agitation into the young student community.