Opposition leaders criticise Stalin over change of Tamil Nadu day to July 18

AIADMK Chief Coordinator and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam said that Tamil Nadu got its present geographical borders on November 1, and hence the state formation day was celebrated as Tamil Nadu day.

He said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has changed the date to July 18 due to his grudge against the AIADMK.

The former Chief Minister said that it was the AIADMK-led government that decided in 2019 that the Tamil Nadu day would be observed on November 1 as the state was formed on linguistic basis on that day in 1956.

Panneerselvam said that the decision to change Tamil Nadu day to July 18, according to the Chief Minister, was on the advice of certain Tamil scholars who said that it was on July 18, 1967, that the Assembly adopted a resolution to change the name of the state from Madras to Tamil Nadu.

However, it was in 1968 that Parliament adopted a law and the state got its present name on January 14, 1969.

The former Chief Minister said that if the Chief Minister was going by the law, then January 14 should have been chosen as Tamil Nadu day.

Panneerselvam said that if the logic of Stalin was applied, then it would mean that the state had taken birth 11 years after its formation on November 1, 1956. The former Chief Minister said that this was unfortunate and against the tradition.

He also called upon the Chief Minister to revert Tamil Nadu day to November 1 and said that other states that were carved out of Madras were celebrating November 1 as their state days.

Meanwhile, the DMK constituent partner VCK welcomed the decision of the Chief Minister, but said the controversy regarding the date should have been removed by arriving at a consensus.

Party general secretary Sinthanai Selvan while speaking to IANS said: "Party founder leader Thol Thirumavalavan welcomes the decision of the Chief Minister, but the controversy should be resolved by arriving at a consensus."

BJP state president K. Annamalai lashed out at the Chief Minister's decision and said that only November 1 would be observed as Tamil Nadu day.

He said only the date of birth of the child is celebrated and not the date of naming ceremony.

He said that the DMK government has been trying to change history and reminiscenced the previous attempt to change the Tamil New Year day.

AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran also came out strongly against the state government's decision. In a statement, Dhinakaran said that the Chief Minister must withdraw his announcement of changing the date.

The AAMMK general secretary said that there were several constructive works to be carried out by the state government and added that instead of doing these works, the Chief Minister was trying to play politics on the change of date of Tamil Nadu day.