Kamaraj was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, posthumously in 1976. The domestic terminal of the Chennai airport is named “Kamaraj Terminal”. Marina beach road in Chennai was named as “Kamarajar Salai”. North Parade Road in Bengaluru and Parliament road in New Delhi were also renamed after Kamaraj. Madurai Kamaraj University is named in his honour. In 2003, the Government of India released a commemorative coin on his birthday.
After Nehru’s death in 1964, Kamaraj successfully navigated the party through turbulent times. As the president of INC, he refused to become the next Prime Minister himself and was instrumental in bringing to power two Prime Ministers, Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964 and Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi in 1966. For this role, he was widely acclaimed as the “kingmaker” during the 1960s.
When the Congress split in 1969, Kamaraj became the leader of the Indian National Congress (Organisation) (INC(O)) in Tamil Nadu. The party fared poorly in the 1971 elections amid allegations of fraud by the opposition parties. He remained the leader of INC(O) until his death in 1975.
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