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TN leaders pay tribute to Forward Bloc leader
Thevar, a freedom fighter and leader of the All India Forward Bloc who worked under Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, is a polarising figure in Tamil Nadu politics.
On the 117th birthday anniversary of Forward Bloc leader Muthuramalinga Thevar, chief minister MK Stalin, opposition leader Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) and governor RN Ravi paid tributes to pander to the community which is dominant in south Tamil Nadu.
After paying his tributes, Stalin listed the funds that his DMK government has spent towards the Thevar leader including inaugurating a ₹1.5 crore shelter in his birthplace Pasumpon (in Madurai) for people waiting in large numbers to attend the celebrations.
BJP leader and former Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, expelled AIADMK leaders VK Sasikala, O Panneerselvam (OPS), and TTV Dhinakaran, also participated to commemorate Thevar’s birth and death anniversary falling on the same date. Notably, Sasikala, OPS and Dhinakaran belong to the Thevar community. New entrant and popular actor Vijay didn’t visit Pasumpon, but paid tributes to a portrait of Thevar.
Thevars constitute a significant vote bank, and was once a core support base of the AIADMK. But after the death of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in 2016, the community has been split in its support, partly due to the expulsion of Sasikala, OPS, and Dhinakaran.
Thevar, a freedom fighter and leader of the All India Forward Bloc who worked under Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, is a polarising figure in Tamil Nadu politics.
He is revered as a demi-god by the Thevars while the Dalits denounce him. The DMK has been trying to woo the Thevars. Thevar, who was associated with the Congress and later with the AIFB, was arrested in connection with the murder of Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran.
Stalin had on Monday inaugurated additional structures at the memorial of Thevar in Pasumpon. This comes with just 18 months left for the assembly polls in 2026.
EPS’s visit also aims to appease the community particularly after the AIADMK in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections came after Dhinakaran in Theni, OPS in Ramanathapuram, Nainar Nagendran in Tirunelveli, Pon Radhakrishnan in Kanyakumari, and R Sreenivasan in Madurai – which all form a significant chunk of Thevar voters in all these seats.
EPS’s efforts such as appointing RB Udhayakumar, a Thevar, as the deputy leader of the AIADMK, and giving prominence to other leaders from the community haven’t succeeded so far.
