CHENNAI: Golden jubilee of renaming the erstwhile state of Madras, as Tamil Nadu will be commemorated this year by the government, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced here on Thursday.
Making a statement in the Assembly, Palaniswami said programmes commemorating renaming of the state will be organised in all districts of Tamil Nadu, besides honouring young Tamil researchers at a gala event in Chennai at a later date.
“I am very happy to announce that Amma’s government has decided to commemorate the golden jubilee of the state rechristened as Tamil Nadu on January 14, 1969,” he told the Assembly, amid thumping of desks by members of the treasury benches. The state has just concluded conducting MGR centenary celebrations that stoked several controversies with Opposition parties calling it “waste of time and money”.
Formed as Madras state on January 26, 1950, when India was declared a republic, the state’s boundaries were reorganized after Andhra Pradesh and Kerala were formed on linguistic lines.
The Madras state was renamed as Tamil Nadu by the then DMK government led by C. N. Annadurai on January 14, 1969, on the occasion of Pongal.
The DMK, which led the anti-Hindi agitation in the 1960s, was in the forefront demanding renaming of the state and Annadurai had said he was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to see Tamil Nadu exist during his lifetime.
As fate would have it, Annadurai died on February 3, 1969. Though Palaniswami did not give details about when the celebrations would begin, he said events including those involving art and games apart from essay, poetry and elocution competitions will be held across the state, he said.
In his statement, the Chief Minister also mentioned the efforts made by the governments led by C. N. Annadurai, M. G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa to ensure that the language flourished including the three World Tamil conferences organised by the leaders. However, he skipped mention of Classical Tamil Conference organised by DMK chief M. Karunanidhi in 2010 when he was chief minister.
Palaniswami also recalled that Thyagi Sankaralinganar had made an appeal to the then Congress government for renaming Madras state as Tamil Nadu in 1956.
He also recalled his government contributing Rs 10 crore for establishment of an exclusive chair for Tamil at Harvard University.
