Parties hail CM’s declaration of Sept 11 as Mahakavi Day

CHENNAI: Cutting across party lines former chief minister and AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam on Saturday welcomed the state’s decision to observe the death anniversary of firebrand poet Subramania Bharathi as Mahakavi day.

In a statement, Panneerselvam welcomed the announcement of CM MK Stalin stating that the state would observe Mahakavi — Great Poet — Day marking the death anniversary of Bharathiyar. OPS also termed the 14 announcements of Stalin to observe the 100th death anniversary of the poet as commendable and necessary to remember the contribution of the great poet towards freedom struggle, women empowerment, patriotism and Tamil development.

Bharathiyar through his poems ignited patriotism and left an indelible mark on Tamil literature. Bharthiyar like Periyar was also instrumental in social justice and fought for women freedom and empowerment. It was our party leader J Jayalalithaa who implemented women welfare schemes seconding the thoughts of poet Bharthiyar and the house of Bharathiyar in Triplicane was restored and opened to the public during the AIADMK regime, OPS recalled in his statement.

The CM had also made announcements to mark the centenary of Bharathiyar under which competitions for school children, research chair in the name of Bharathiyar in Bharathidasan University in Tiruchy and a park named after the poet by Rural Development Department and all these announcements should be commended. On behalf of AIADMK I wholeheartedly thank the Chief Minister for initiating the Mahakavi day celebrations and announcements to remember Bharathiyar, the statement added.

Meanwhile, CPM and CPI leaders hailed the contribution of Mahakavi Bharathiyar in freedom struggle and propagating progressive thoughts on occasion of his centenary memorial day on Saturday. “Many of Bharathiyar’s songs were propagating left-wing ideals at a time when Marxist texts were not widely available in Tamil. The centenary of the Bharathi’s memorial anniversary, who coined words ‘commonwealth’ and ‘revolution’ in Tamil and contributed to their spread, has begun,” CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan tweeted.

Bharathi would probably have evolved into left-wing thinker if he had lived longer. “In name of Bharathi, we will pledge to create a non-exploitative modern India that eliminates castes, hunger and guarantees education for all,” he wrote.

CPI state secretary R Mutharasan said that CM Stalin has made announcements to commemorate the death anniversary of Mahakavi Bharathiyar. “We welcome decision to observe ‘Mahakavi Day’ on September 11 every year. It is also a good move to take Bharathi to the younger generation by announcing that a ‘Bharathi Young Poet’ award will be given to students by conducting poetry competitions in schools, colleges every year,” he said.

I wholeheartedly thank the Chief Minister for initiating the Mahakavi Day celebrations

— O Panneerselvam,

AIADMK Coordinator