He supported the anti Hindi agitation and opposed the Central Government's language policy.

After Shastri's assurances to Tamils that English would continue to be used for centre-state and intrastate communications and that the All India Civil Services examination would continue to be conducted in English, he and C.Subramaniam withdrew their resignations.

He relentlessly worked for the removal of social evils like untouchability and prohibition.

[1] As Central Minister and member of Parliament, he was instrumental in getting the Madras Refineries, the Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant and, along with Dewan Bahadur Gopalaswamy Iyengar, the Integral Coach Factory, set up in Tamil Nadu.

His contributions were acknowledged in a multi party function held to celebrate his centenary in 2011.