CHENNAI: CPM and CPI have welcomed the State government’s announcement to erect a statue for poet Tamil Oli at Tamil University in Thanjavur and to hold competitions among school students in Tamil. In a statement, CPM State secretary K Balakrishnan said that Poet Tamil Oli worked tirelessly for the progress of working people, abolition of untouchability, unity of the people and was a fighter for social justice throughout his life.

“We had already made a request to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on October 22, 2022, insisting that Tamil Oli’s birth centenary should be observed by the State government,” he recalled and welcomed the government decision to erect a bust of the poet and hold competitions among the school students in his name with Rs 50 lakh allocated for it. CPI state secretary R Mutharasan thanked the CM for his announcement to commemorate Tamil Oli’s birth centenary. He hailed the revolutionary poet who fought against caste and labour exploitations through his poems which became the slogan for progressive forces in the later.