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- “There is no problem with changing the names of schemes; what matters is that the schemes continue. Schemes that people value should continue regardless of which party is in power.” – DMDK MLA Premalatha Vijayakant (in the Assembly)
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- “If the Tamil Nadu CM faces any humiliation while visiting Karnataka, the entire state of TN will rise in protest.” – Premalatha
- “Udhayanidhi is destroying the movement founded by Anna with obscene language. Remarks that demean women are unacceptable.” – Minister Aadhav
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- “Avoiding the imprisonment of Udhayanidhi would enhance the ruling party’s credibility.” – Thirumavalavan
- “Why is CM Vijay showing more urgency regarding the arrest operation than he did regarding the Cauvery river water issue?” – Seeman
Coimbatore
Jayalalithaa steps into Thiruvalluvar statue controversy
July 20, 2016
TN chief minister asks Modi to get the Uttarakahand government to allot land for Thiruvalluvar statue, which now is lying abandoned in the open space of a building. Insult to Tamils, cry politicial parties in Tamil Nadu
Tamil political parties are enraged so are the people over insult heaped on ancient poet sage, Thiruvalluvar, whose statue is lying abandoned in an open space in Haridwar, after it was unceremoniously ejected from its place of installation in the temple town there.
The statue was to be installed at Har ki Paur, a holy spot along the banks of river Ganga, but the prime mover of the project to bring South and North closer through this exercise, BJP MP Tarun Vijay failed to get land allotted for the same from the Uttarakhand government.
Hence, all his well-intentioned move bombed, and has instead inflamed passions in Tamil Nadu with all political parties seething with rage over the insult to poet sage, who is revered in the state. When Tarun Vijay launched his project at Kanyakumari last month, it was seen as a venture that would get the north India to appreciate the good things about Tamil Nadu and Tamil seers and saints and much needed people to people bridge via culture and traditions.
But, this was not to be, given the stiff opposition to the installation of the statue on the banks of river Ganga. So it was then hurriedly decided to install the statue at Shankaracharya Chowk. This done, the priests and holy men protested vehemently and the move had to be dropped and the statue now lies wrapped in a black plastic sheet, tied up with ropes and abandoned.
On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa stepped into the controversy and urged the prime minister to urgently intervene in this issue. “The visuals of the statue in this condition, beamed on television screens, is causing outrage in Tamil Nadu,” Jayalalithaa said in a letter to prime minister Narendra Modi.
She urged the prime minister to take up the matter with government of Uttarakhand urgently and to ensure that the statue of Thiruvalluvar is treated with due respect and was installed at an appropriate place. “Failure to do so would lead to the whole objective of the project to install the statue of Thiruvalluvar in a pilgrim centre in Northern India being completely defeated,” the chief minister said.
BJP MP Tarun Vijay deflects criticism aimed at him and points fingers at the Congress instead as it is the party that is ruling Uttarakhand at present.
