would become the sole official language. However, the Madras Anti-Hindi agitation in 1965 compelled the Central Government in India change its language policy, allowing English to continue as an official language. Although DMK was not directly involved in the violence that marred the agitation, the protest itself catapulted DMK to political power in the State in the 1967 legislative elections. Annadurai became the first non-Congress Chief Minister of the post-1950 Madras state as a result. The electoral victory in 1967 led to an electoral fusion among the non-Congress parties to avoid a split in the Opposition votes. Rajagopalachari, a former senior leader of the Congress Party, had by then left the Congress and launched the right-wing Swatantra Party. He played a vital role in bringing about the electoral fusion amongst the opposition parties to align against the Congress. Split in DMK and birth of AIADMK MGR and the split from DMK M. G. Ramachandran, popularly known as M.G.R., was an actor in Tamil cinema and a well known propagator of Dravidian ideologies in his movies since 1953. In the 1970s as the then treasurer of DMK, he played a vital part in popularizing the party, bringing many of his fans as supporters. A political feud between M.G.R. and the party's president M. Karunanidhi had been ongoing since the death of Annadurai in 1969. It arose from Karunanidhi calling himself the "Mujib of Tamil Nadu". Soon after the electoral victory of DMK in 1971, some of senior members expressed concern that M.G.R.'s popularity was growing strong within the party cadres. Karunanidhi made several attempts to weaken M.G.R.'s position within the party. M.G.R. retaliated with corruption charges and a call for a boycott of the party's General Council. DMK's General Council suspended M.G.R. from the party stating that he had involved himself in "anti party activities". Although M.G.R. had lost support from top-ranking leaders within the DMK, the strong public reaction following his suspension demonstrated his popular support within the party's volunteers. Inspired by this support from the party's lower cadres and his fans, M.G.R. launched his own party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) named after his mentor C. N. Annadurai fondly known as Anna. AIADMK government M.G.R. presented his new party to Indira Gandhi as the regional equivalent of her Congress (I) party. Indira Gandhi was the head of her party, which she split from the Indian National Congress