Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin lauded his father, the late Muthuvel Karunanidhi—for excelling across every field he touched, during the inaugural session of the Muththamizh Arignar Kalaignar Centenary Seminar.

This two-day event, organized by the Tamil department of the Sahitya Akademi in collaboration with Jawaharlal Nehru University, is being held at Chennai’s Kalaivanar Arangam, celebrating 100 years since Karunanidhi’s birth .

During the ceremony, Stalin released a commemorative volume and extolled Karunanidhi’s lifelong devotion to public service, noting he dedicated 80 years to social upliftment and literature. He praised Karunanidhi as a visionary who “became the face of India,” whose parliamentary speeches were benchmarks in dignity, and whose work spanned politics, art, literature, and film .

Stalin also highlighted Karunanidhi’s extraordinary political journey—five-time Chief Minister, five decades as a Dravidian leader, and unmatched literary contributions, earning him the title Mutthamizh Arignar (“Scholar of Complete Tamil”). Reflecting on his enduring legacy, Stalin remarked, “One cannot encapsulate Kalaignar’s life under a single heading”