President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday unveiled the portrait of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in the state Assembly on Monday. He also hailed the landmark legislature of the century-old Assembly. “It would not be wrong to say that this legislature became the fountainhead of many progressive legislation, which were subsequently repeated across the country to empower the weaker sections of the society and strengthen democracy. The Madras legislature has sown the seeds of a fully representative democratic form of governance which were released after independence,” Kovind said.
Paying rich tribute to the former Chief Minister, he said, “From him, his mother tongue was the object of worship, Tamil of course is one of the greatest and oldest languages of humankind. The whole world takes pride in the rich heritage. It was Karunanidhi who ensured that it was granted official recognition as a classical language.”
AIADMK leaders skipped the occasion but BJP state president K Annamalai and legislative party leader Nainar Nagenthran attended the programme. Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister MK Stalin, Assembly Speaker M Appavu, Tamil Manila Congress President GK Vasan, PMK President GK Mani and Congress state President KS Alagiri were also present during the event.
President Ram Nath Kovind who arrived Chennai on Monday is on a five-day visit to Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, AIADMK has opposed the proposed Kalaignar Karunanidhi Memorial Library that is to come up in Madurai. The AIADMK has alleged that the state government is going to demolish the house of the architect of Mullaperiyar dam, John Pennycucik to construct a library. In a joint statement, AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami said that the party would join hands with the farmers to oppose any move to demolish the house of John Pennycucik to build the memorial library.
AIADMK further said the party is not against the memorial library but the government should plan to construct it anywhere else instead of demolishing the house of the architect of Mullaperiyar dam, John Pennycucik. However, the Tamil Nadu government has denied the allegations stating that there is no proof to show that Pennycucik resided in the PWD building. The government claimed that site identified for the memorial is in fact the PWD quarters for engineers.