‘Tamil Nadu’ back in names of guesthouses

On January 29, the state issued a Government Order renaming ‘Old’ Tamil Nadu House located in Kautilya Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, as ‘Vaigai Tamil Illam’ and Additional Guesthouse located in Bir Tikendrajit Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, as ‘Pothigai Tamil Illam.’ 

The change follows the proposal from the Principal Resident Commissioner for the state guest house, who observed that the users primarily bureaucrats of all-India-services from state administration besides Governor, Chief Minister, Ministers and state’s guests, get a psychological feeling of being accommodated in the ‘old’ facility as and when they were allotted the Kautilya Marg lodging. 

His proposal suggested assigning proper names to both the facilities to overcome such a feeling among guests and the re-christening was carried out. The said GO subsequently effected the renaming. 

As opposition mounted, the state issued yet another GO citing another proposal from the same official. This time the revision paved way for retaining ‘Tamil Nadu’ in the rechristening model and the reason cited was ‘better understanding’ and that inclusion of ‘Tamil Nadu’ would ‘befit’ the same, read a proposal received from the Official.  

As per the revision, the guesthouses – old and new were named as ‘Vaigai Tamil Nadu Illam’ and ‘Pothigai Tamil Nadu Illam.’ The services of ‘Old’ Tamil Nadu House dates back to 1952 and it was expanded in 1976 as a three-storey building. In its present setup, it has 9 VIP suites and 20 standard two-bed room accommodations. The Additional Guesthouse was built during the regime of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa in 2004 and the four-storey building has 26 VIP suites and 46 standard two-bed room accommodations. 

DMK working president MK Stalin has condemned the ruling AIADMK for reportedly renaming the Tamil Nadu House in New Delhi.  Expressing regret at Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami renaming Tamil Nadu House to demonstrate his loyalty to his political masters in the nation’s capital, Stalin, in a statement, said the AIADMK has attempted to affect the sentiments of 7.5 crore Tamils at the instigation of the ruling BJP.  Stalin said that the Chief Minister has set a bad precedent.