- Lived:
- 15 July 1903, Virudhupatti (Virudhunagar), Madras Presidency — 2 October 1975, Madras (Chennai); the life ran from a cloth shop counter through six prison terms totalling more than 3,000 days to the Chief Minister's chair and the presidency of the Congress
- Field:
- statesman and educationist — Chief Minister of Madras State 1954–63; Congress president 1964–67; Perunthalaivar, "the Great Leader", and Kalvi Thanthai, "Father of Education"
- The Big Idea:
- A man with six years of schooling decided that no child in his state should repeat his life — a school within walking distance, a hot meal on the plate, a uniform so that poverty could not be read at a glance — and then proved that power is a tool you can set down: he resigned the most secure office in India to go and rebuild his party.
- In their words:
- "No Hindi, no English — how can I be PM?" (to the press, 1966, declining the Prime Ministership of India)
- If you remember one thing:
- The free school lunch he fought the planners for in 1956 is the direct ancestor of the programme that today feeds over a hundred million Indian children a day — and the man who chose two Prime Ministers died leaving ₹130, a few books and two pairs of sandals.