Tamil Nadu Day: DMK was instrumental in renaming Madras, says CM Stalin – The Indian Express

Chennai News

Chief Minister M K Stalin said Monday that a lot of sacrifices had to be made to name the state Tamil Nadu and they had to wait decades, but the DMK was ultimately able to make it happen. He was speaking virtually on the occasion of Tamil Nadu Day.

“People wrote about it, lost lives, shed blood, faced legal battles, raised questions in the Upper House, but nothing happened. Only after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) assumed power and Anna became the chief minister was the state named Tamil Nadu,” Stalin noted, referring to late chief minister C N Annadurai. “It is a great honour for me to speak on the occasion of Tamil Nadu day,” he added.

The DMK leader was discharged on Monday from a private hospital where he was admitted after testing positive for Covid-19. Last October, Stalin had announced that July 18 would be observed as Tamil Nadu Day as it was the day on which a resolution was passed in the state Assembly by Annadurai to rename the then Madras state as Tamil Nadu.

Stalin said that though he was discharged from the hospital, he was resting and hence could not participate in the event in person. He said he felt happy to utter the slogan ‘Tamil Nadu Vaazhga (Long Live Tamil Nadu)’ which was uttered by Annadurai on July 18, 1967 in the Assembly.

He further added that if DMK had not assumed power, the state would have remained just another “Chennai Pradesh” like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh without an “identity”.

“People who ask what Dravidian Ideology did should know about these things,” Stalin said. He further spoke about the greatness of the language and the history of the land and how people like Dravidian ideologue Periyar and Tamil scholars like Maraimalai Adigal, Navalar Somasundara Bharatiyar fought for it.

“Let us take a pledge that we will work hard all day for the language and race to grow, for state autonomy to win and to nurture federalism across the country. I extend my wishes to all Tamils,” Stalin said.

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State Cabinet ministers, including Durai Murugan, Thangam Thennarasu and M P Swaminathan, and other senior officials participated in the event that took place at Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai. A special book on Tamil Nadu Day was released and several Tamil scholars were honoured.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chennai/tamil-nadu-day-dmk-renaming-madras-cm-stalin-8037083/