Tamil Nadu to organize year-long celebrations to mark centenary of Vaikom Satyagraha

Chennai (IANS) | The Tamil Nadu government will organize year-long celebrations to mark the centenary of the Vaikom Satyagraha—the struggle for temple entry for Dalits and other so-called lower castes—at the Vaikom Mahadeva temple in Kerala’s Kottayam, Chief Minister MK Stalin said on Thursday. Will do Announcing in the assembly, he also said that the ‘Vaikom Award’ would be given to eminent personalities or organizations working for the betterment of Dalit people beyond the boundaries of the state.

The chief minister also said that the awards would be given on September 17, which is the birth anniversary of Dravidian ideologue EV Ramaswamy Periyar, commonly known as ‘Thanthai Aperiyar’, and celebrated as Social Justice Day in Tamil Nadu. Underlining the importance of the Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924–25 in the history of India’s reforms, he cited the impact of Periyar’s participation in the movement as the then leader of the Congress.

Periyar is not only a leader for Tamils and Tamil Nadu. His thoughts and actions proved that he was a leader beyond languages and international boundaries. Self-respect, rationalism, equality and social justice are universal philosophies. His ideas form the basis of yesterday’s rebellions, today’s efforts and tomorrow’s developments.

Stalin will participate in the centenary celebrations of the Vaikom Satyagraha to be held in Kottayam, Kerala on April 1 along with his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan. Stalin also told the assembly that the Tamil Nadu government would spend Rs 8.14 crore on the restoration of the Periyar memorial at Vaikom. He also said that the government would try to set up a memorial at Aruvikutty where Periyar was jailed for the first time.

He told the assembly that the book Vaikom Protest written by Pazha Adhiyaman, a scholar and researcher in Tamil, would be translated into Malayalam and would also be published in English, Telugu and Kannada. He also said that a book on the Vaikom movement would be published by the State Government’s Text Books and Educational Services Corporation and said that competitions on speech and essay on the Vaikom Satyagraha would be organized in schools, colleges and universities across Tamil Nadu.

Stalin said the state government was taking steps to issue a commemorative postage stamp to mark the centenary of the Vaikom Satyagraha.

–IANS