LET THAMIZHAGAM REMEMBER THE STRUGGLE
TO ENSURE ANNA's DREAM COME TRUE
3 rd Febraury 1969: The entire
population of Tamilnadu literally seems to be present in Chennai. The demise of
Anna brought sea of humanity to the sands of marina beach. To have a last
glimpse of the leader every Tamil came perched on the roof tops of over crowded
trains, buses and all modes of transport, including by foot. The Madras bound
Janet Express was full beyond its capacity and people were in its roof
unfortunately when the train crossed the Coleroon Bridge in between Coleroon
and Chidambaram stations. Alas! 28 persons were crushed to death and 70 injured
in that train where Anna's brothers traveled to have the last minute glimpse of
his body. It was a matter of single minded devotion to reach Rajaji Hall where
Anna's body was kept for public view that drove every Tamilian. Loss of even
lives did not deter them from their determination. The entire police summoned
to control crowds could not perform and they resorted to burst tear gas shells
several times. I was there in the stampede running to the underground passage
of Anna Salai to escape tear gas with burning eyes full of tears already for
having lost my mentor.
The Guinness book of Records says
" that the funeral of Anna was attended by the largest number of people in
the world " Panruti S.Ramachandran in his preface to the book "Anna
Speaks- at the Rajya Sabha 1962-66" writes ' The century had witnessed
only 3 funerals comparable to anywhere like that of Anna's. The first one was
that of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhara Tilak at Bombay in 1920, the second was that of
Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi in 1948 and the third was that of Jawaharlal Nehru in
Delhi in 1964". He also writes ' another striking feature of the entire
funeral procession was the predominance of ordinary people like sweepers,
scavengers, slum dwellers and hut dwellers'. In that see of humanity I braved
my way where the pit to bury Anna was dug and took handful of that sand which
for two decades I preserved till my family members threw it away without
knowing its sentimental value. I took the oath not to eat fish for a year to
mourn Anna's demise. I was so fond of fish that I cannot remain without eating
it. Apart from my personal feelings which by sheer luck I am recording here,
millions felt their lives have lost its meaning in a land without Anna. But for
Anna, our motherland would not have been named as Tamil Nadu.
The struggle for naming of Tamil Nadu
is yet to be written as separate book. Let me reproduce few lines “Tamil Nadu
was once named after its capital city, Madras.The situation was a complicated
one. Even Congressmen spoke of Tamil Nadu within the state, reserving Madras
State for letters and speeches meant for external consumption. To appease the
Tamil people they even changed the name of Aranmore Palace in Ooty to
Tamizhagam. But they were not willing to set right this anomaly by making a
Constitutional amendment. It was Thiru.Bhupesh Gupta of the Communist party who
took the initiative in 1961 by introducing a private members bill to amend the
first schedule entry number 7 of the Constitution. The purpose of the Bill was
to call the Madras State by its rightful name Tamil Nadu in conformity with the
historical, linguistic and cultural considerations. Anna's impassionate defense
of this bill will be long remembered for its sincere emotion and clear cut
reasoning.
The adamant Center refused to yield
and opposed the private member's motion to call "Madras State" by its
rightful name Tamil Nadu. With its majority the Congress party defeated the
Bill, but the change could not be resisted for long. Four years later in 1967
when the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was elected to power in Madras State, Anna
as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu achieved his objective with unanimous backing
of both Houses of the State legislature. Today there is no Madras State, only
Tamil Nadu" Panruti Ramachandran's note in the book mentions.
But we must also remember
Sangaralinganaar who fasted to death for this cause in spite of being a
Congressman."Thamizh Naadu" should not be misspelt as Tamil Nadu. Is
it not our duty to set this right, while saluting all who gave up their lives
for the cause of Tamil Nadu.
N.Nandhivarman General Secretary
Dravida Peravai
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