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Row over anthem again, now at event of TN govt

By, Chennai
Oct 26, 2024 06:34 AM IST

In the video, Udhayanidhi is seen singing the anthem and looking questionably at the singers whenever they mispronounced words

Another controversy over the state anthem gripped Tamil Nadu on Friday, this time in an official event chaired by deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin in Chennai. As the controversy snowballed, Udhayanidhi dismissed the allegations of mispronunciation during singing and said that the microphone did not function properly and that it was a “technical fault”.

Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin (CMOTamilNadu-X)
Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin (CMOTamilNadu-X)

The development came on the heels of the controversy that emerged on October 18 when a Hindi month celebration was held at Doordarshan Chennai. Chief minister MK Stalin criticised the event and later governor RN Ravi, after performers missed a sentence with references to “Dravida” while singing the Tamil Nadu state anthem at the function.

The Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday was quick to react that it is a boomerang effect on the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) who had come down heavily on the governor for the similar incident.

On Friday, however, there weren’t any omissions but several Tamil words were mispronounced at an event to felicitate the first batch of the government’s flagship “CM’s Fellowship Program”. In the video, Udhayanidhi is seen singing the anthem and looking questionably at the singers whenever they mispronounce words.

Following the event, he responded to reporters that they didn’t deliberately sing the anthem wrong. “It’s a technical fault,” Udhayanidhi said. “The mic didn’t work properly. In two-three places, their voices weren’t heard. After that they sang the whole song properly for the second time, and after that the national anthem was also sung properly.”

BJP’s national secretary Arvind Menon asked what chief minister MK Stalin who derided the governor now had to say in response. “I call upon TN Chief Minister Thiru. @mkstalin avl to not dismiss this affront to the Tamil Thaai Vazhthu as a “technical fault” but to take decisive action against those responsible, including his son and Deputy CM of Tamil Nadu, Thiru @Udhaystalin,” Menon said in a post on X.

“Under Deputy Chief Minister Thiru. @Udhaystalin’s leadership, the Tamil Thaai Vazhthu was disrespected at a recent government event… It is truly concerning that the Tamil Thaai Vazhthu was misrendered not once, but twice during an official event at the Secretariat. This incident starkly exposes the DMK Government’s hypocrisy regarding their professed commitment to the Tamil language and the people of Tamil Nadu.”

On October 18, Stalin said that celebrating Hindi month in non-Hindi-speaking states “is seen as an attempt to belittle” other languages even as he condemned the Doordarshan Chennai’s Hindi month valedictory function, where governor Ravi was the chief guest.

Accusing Ravi of “deliberately insulting” Tamil Nadu and the sentiments of the people of the southern state, after references to “Dravida” were omitted from the state anthem during the same function, Stalin demanded that the Union government should immediately “recall” the governor.

The Raj Bhawan clarified that the governor only participated in the event and had no role in the matter, while the national broadcaster issued an apology saying that the sentence was missed “inadvertently” due to a distraction. A political uproar erupted after singers missed a sentence — “Thekkanamum athirsirantha Dravida nalthirunaadum”, which roughly translates to the great Dravidian nation — from Tamil Nadu’s state anthem during the DD event.

Stalin asked if the governor would ask people to sing the national anthem leaving out the word Dravida. The governor, however, termed Stalin’s comments as regrettable and accused the CM of making a racist remark against him and for having levelled “false allegation of showing disrespect to Tamizh Thaai Valthu.”

Later, on October 22 at a party event in Dindigul, Udhayanidhi referred to this incident saying that it was an attempt to impose Hindi on Tamil Nadu.

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