Tamil na­tion­al­ists led by Naam Tamizhar Katchi com­mem­o­rated Tamil Nadu Day in a grand style, with flag hoist­ing, oath-tak­ing, a cul­tural fest and a re­asser­tion of Tamil na­tion­al­ism at Salem on 1 No­vem­ber, notwith­stand­ing the re­cent an­nounce­ment of the rul­ing DMK gov­ern­ment to shift the date to 18 July, fol­low­ing Dra­vid­ian ide­o­logues’ sug­ges­tion that the change is mooted, based on the fact that “Tamil Nadu” got its name on 18 July 1967 through a res­o­lu­tion of the Tamil Nadu Leg­isla­tive As­sem­bly. WSN re­ports. 

UNFAZED BY THE DE­CI­SION OF THE TAMIL NADU GOV­ERN­MENT to change the date of Tamil Nadu Day, Tamil na­tion­al­ists from across the state gath­ered at Salem and vowed to cel­e­brate the day on 1 No­vem­ber and ed­u­cate the peo­ple of Tamil Nadu of the Dra­vid­ian de­signs of the pre­sent gov­ern­ment of Tamil Nadu.

Re­port­edly, as sug­gested by Dra­vid­ian schol­ars and ide­o­logues, DMK de­cided to change the date. The AIADMK, two years ago, had started ob­serv­ing Tamil Nadu Day on 1 No­vem­ber.

So far, Pun­jab and Tamil Nadu cel­e­brate their for­ma­tion days on the same date -1 No­vem­ber. How­ever, this may end next year if the DMK gov­ern­ment has its way.   

Pur­suant to the pro­vi­sions of the States Re­or­gan­i­sa­tion Act, the state of Tamil Nadu was carved out on 1 No­vem­ber while some parts of the ear­lier Madras Pres­i­dency were trans­ferred to Ker­ala, Kar­nataka and Andhra Pradesh.  While the state has been ob­serv­ing the day of for­ma­tion 1 No­vem­ber, the pre­sent chief min­is­ter M. K. Stalin re­solved to push it to 18 July. 

Stal­in’s an­nounce­ment has trig­gered a row among Thamizh na­tion­al­ists and po­lit­i­cal par­ties across Thamizh Nadu, who had ques­tioned the newly-elected DMK gov­ern­men­t’s ra­tio­nale be­hind the date change.  This move of the Stalin-led DMK gov­ern­ment has fur­ther ac­cen­tu­ated the di­vide be­tween the Dra­vid­ian and Tamil schol­ars, amidst moves by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to triv­i­al­ize Tamil­ism at the al­tar of Dra­vid­ian hege­mony.

Set­ting the tone of the event, Sen­thamizhan See­man, Chief Co­or­di­na­tor, Naam Thamizhar Katchi ques­tioned the au­gust au­di­ence whether the birth­day of a child will be cel­e­brated as a birth­day on the date on which a child was named or the date on which the child was born. On that ground, he said it is il­log­i­cal to cel­e­brate Thamizh Nadu Day on July 18 rather than No­vem­ber 01 on which the State was formed. 

The pro-Tamil Naam Tami­lar Party of Sen­thamizhan See­man and other Tamil na­tion­al­ist bod­ies or­gan­ised a cul­tural fest in­clud­ing for­got­ten art forms of Kavadiy­at­tam and Karakat­tam to up­hold Tamil re­spect and ho­n­our. 

Speak­ing on the oc­ca­sion, po­lit­i­cal ac­tivist Nachiyaal Sug­an­thi en­dorsed NTK’s de­ci­sion to ob­serve Thamizh Nadu Day on 1 No­vem­ber and elab­o­rated how Dra­vid­ian pol­i­tics al­ways con­fuses Thamizh peo­ple by in­dulging in be­fud­dling Tamil iden­tity is­sues. 

Muthu­pandiyan -the founder of Marudhu Makkal Iyakkam ac­cused the Dra­vid­ian par­ties, that ruled the state for over 50 years of hav­ing failed to re­store Thamizh pride and to pass on the legacy to the next gen­er­a­tions. “There should be no con­fu­sion in any­one’s mind and 1 No­vem­ber should be the Thamizh Nadu Day in fu­ture,” he added. 

Senthil Mal­lar -founder, Thamizhaga Thayaka Katchi re­it­er­ated that the word “Dravi­dam” is not a Thamizh word, and Dra­vid­ian pol­i­tics is not meant for the Thamizh peo­ple and their soil. He pointed out that the up­ris­ing of the Thamizh na­tional ide­ol­ogy is in­evitable and un­stop­pable.

Mu. Kalanchiyam -founder, Thamizhar Nala Periyakkam, in his ap­peal to the au­di­ence, lashed out at the DMK stat­ing that the Dra­vid­ian ide­ol­ogy con­stantly strives to shrink Thamizh’s his­tory, not be­yond the pe­riod of Arig­nar Anna and Peri­yar. “Any at­tempt to shift the date of Tamil Nadu Day must be re­sisted at all costs,” he added.

Viya­narasu -founder, Thamizh Thesa Tha­nuri­mai Katchi rec­ol­lected how the then Thamizh Nadu CM Ka­ma­ra­jar’s mag­na­nim­ity let the State lose its share of land and ques­tioned the in­ten­tion of the pre­sent-day DMK regime to an­nounce July 18 as Thamizh Nadu Day, while the Dra­vid­ian fore­fa­thers never brought this idea to the table ear­lier. 

See­man re­it­er­ated the need for a sep­a­rate flag for the state that com­mem­o­rates the great rulers of the Cheran, Chozhan, and Pandyan em­pires. He ac­cused that it is the Dra­vid­ian par­ties’ plot to shrink the 50,000-year-old Thamizh his­tory of pride to a mere 100 years of the re­cent past.

See­man said that it was the re­spon­si­bil­ity of the Thamizh youth to re­trieve their lost pride and glory. “It is time for the younger gen­er­a­tion to cre­ate his­tory by con­sis­tent and ded­i­cated work,” he added. 

Tamil na­tion­al­ists on one plat­form with Naam Tami­lar Katchi pro­claim­ing 1 No­vem­ber as Tamil Nadu Day, de­rid­ing DMK govt. date change move child­ish and an ef­fort to foist Dra­vid­i­an­ism on Tamils. #Tamizh­Nadu­Day, #NTK, #Naam­Tami­larKatchi, #WeAre­Tamils, #DMK https://​t.co/​g75YzYQmyw

— Jag­mo­han Singh (@thewsned­i­tor) No­vem­ber 8, 2021

Naam Tami­lar Katchi Tamil na­tion­al­ist leader See­man roared, “Let us all speak Tamil with­out the in­flu­ence of any for­eign lan­guage and let it be­come sec­ond na­ture to all of us. We owe this to our an­ces­tors, our­selves and to the gen­er­a­tion next.”