Team News Riveting
Chennai, October 30
Those who have learnt that Tamil Nadu was born on November 1, please hold on! The M K Stalin government has decided to change the “birthday” of the state.
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu on Saturday reversed the previous AIADMK government’s decision and said the state’s formation day will now be celebrated on July 18. In a statement issued here, Chief Minister M K Stalin said it was on November 1, 1956 that states were bifurcated on linguistic basis and as a result, the then Madras Presidency was divided into Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala.
Noting that November 1 was announced as the Tamil Nadu Day by the then AIADMK government from 2019 onwards, he said that as per Tamil experts/organisations and others, November 1 can be termed as the foundation day for state border struggle and hence only July 18 can be termed as Tamil Nadu Day.
On July 18, 1967 Tamil Nadu got its present name following an Assembly legislation enacted by Dravidian veteran and late chief minister CN Annadurai and therefore, it should be the day to be celebrated state’s formation day, Stalin added.
The decision of the DMK government has come under sharp criticism from the AIADMK and PMK. “Naming day cannot be the birthday and logically only November 1 can be the Tamil Nadu Day,” PMK founder S Ramadoss said.
He said all the other states that were carved out of Tamil Nadu are celebrating November 1 as their birthday. The PMK leader pointed out that Stalin had extended his greetings on November 1, 2019 when the AIADMK government decided to celebrate that day as Tamil Nadu Day.
