AIADMK calls it vendetta, says Jan 14 is apt, BJP agrees

Chennai: The opposition AIADMK on Sunday slammed Chief Minister M K Stalin's announcement on changing the Tamil Nadu Day from November 1 to July 18, saying it smacked of 'political vendetta' and dubbed it as an 'unsuitable move'.

Reversing the previous AIADMK government's decision, Stalin had on Saturday said the state's Formation Day will henceforth be celebrated on July 18, in lines with the rechristening of its name to the present one on that day and not on November 1.

A government order will be issued soon for this purpose, he had said. Following the Linguistic Reorganisation of states, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala came into existence from the then Madras state on November 1, 1956.

AIADMK Coordinator O Panneerselvam said a child's birthday falls on the day it is born and not when it is given a name, referring to the ruling DMK's decision to alter the state's formation day in lines with it getting the present name, i.e. Tamil Nadu.

Incidentally, though late chief minister CN Annadurai piloted an Assembly resolution on July 18, 1967 to rename Tamil Nadu from Madras State, it became a reality two years later, after the proposal went through the Parliament and the then central government issuing a notification on the name change in 1968, saying it would come into effect from January 14, 1969.

"Going by the chief minister's reasoning, only 14-01-1969 should be celebrated as Tamil Nadu day. A child's birthday should be celebrated on the day it is born ....," the former CM said in a party statement. Panneerselvam further said the birthday of a child, even if its name is officially changed 10 years after being born, is celebrated on the day of its birth and not the one in which the name change happened.

A building is also assumed to have been established on the day it is inaugurated and not when it was cleared at a proposal level, he added.

"Similarly, the birthday of the child called Madras state which was born on November 1, 1956 with the present landscape, which was decided to be renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1967 and one which happened in 1969, is still Novmber 1, 1956."

"So the announcement on celebrating Tamil Nadu on July 18 will not be suitable by any means. It amounts to saying the state was born 11 years later than it did and is an attempt at rewriting history.... is the peak of political vendetta," he added.

Panneerselvam cited the other states carved out of then Madras state celebrating their respective formation days on November 1 and urged Stalin to withdraw his government's decision to observe Tamil Nadu day on July 18. AIADMK ally BJP and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader TTV Dhinakaran also opposed the move.

BJP state unit president K Annamalai echoed Panneerselvam when he said a child's birthday falls on the day it is born. "It is not fair on the part of the DMK government to change the Tamil Nadu Day from November 1 just because it had been announced so by the previous AIADMK government," he said in a statement.

He recalled the earlier DMK government, under the late M Karunanidhi, changing the Tamil new year from 'Chithirai' (April) to 'Thai' to coincide with the Pongal festival in January. It was, however, reversed by the subsequent AIADMK government led by the late J Jayalalithaa. Dhinakaran, in a tweet, said Stalin's 'controversial' announcement was "unnessary" and should be withdrawn.