Sathyavani Muthu (15 February 1923 – 11 November 1999) was an Indian politician and an influential leader from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She was a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

member and Union Minister. She began her political career as a member of

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...

, began her own party, Thazhthapattor Munnetra Kazhagam and later joined the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. In late 1990s, she again joined in DMK.

Member of Legislative assembly

She was a member of

(DMK) since its beginning in 1949. In 1953, she was arrested for leading the DMK's protests against the Kula Kalvi Thittam. During 1959-58, she was the propaganda secretary of the party. She also served as the editor of the magazine ''Annai'' (lit. mother) She contested assembly elections from Perambur and Ulundurpet constituencies in all assembly elections between 1957 and 1977 and 1984. She won three times from Perambur constituency as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

election, as a

candidate in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, and 1971 elections. She lost the

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

election from Perambur and

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

election from Ulundurpet constituency.

Electoral history

Tamil Nadu minister

She served as a minister for Harijan welfare and Information during

C. N. Annadurai Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly known as Anna also known as Arignar Anna or Perarignar Anna (''Anna, the scholar'' or ''Elder Brother''), was an Indian Tamil politician who served as the fo ...

administration in Tamil Nadu from 1967 to 1969. She again served as a Harijan welfare minister in M. Karunanidhi administration till 1974.

Thazhthapattor Munnetra Kazhagam

She resigned her ministerial position in 1974 and left Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. She claimed that Harijans are not treated well by DMK since the death of

and the new leader M. Karunanidhi was prejudiced against harijans. She said She formed Thazhthapattor Munnetra Kazhagam. The party was merged with Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam after it came to power winning the

election.

Union minister

She served as a Rajya Sabha member as the

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by the former chief mi ...

representative from 3 April 1978 to 2 April 1984. She served as an Union Minister in

Chaudhary Charan Singh Chaudhary Charan Singh (23 December 1902 – 29 May 1987) served as the 5th Prime Minister of India between 28 July 1979 to 14 January 1980. Historians and people alike frequently refer to him as the 'champion of India's peasants.' Charan S ...

ministry from 19 August 1979 to 23 December 1979. She along with A. Bala Pajanor were the first two non-Congress

Dravidian parties Dravidian parties include an array of regional political parties in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, which trace their origins and ideologies either directly or indirectly to the Justice Party and the Dravidian movement of C. Natesanar and Per ...

Tamil Nadu politicians to serve in Union ministry.

Book

Sathyavani Muthu penned her struggles in the book titled ''My Agitations'', which was first released in 1982 by The Justice Press in Madras.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muthu, Satyavani Members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians Union Ministers from Tamil Nadu 1923 births 1999 deaths Dalit politicians 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Dalit women Women state cabinet ministers of India Women union ministers of India Women members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly