Several members of the Nadar community staged a protest outside the Chennai airport on Thursday, demanding that the new domestic terminal be named after former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj.
The protest comes just ahead of the inauguration of the new terminals scheduled to take place on Thursday.
Ravanan Ramasamy Nadar, leader of the Chennai Puranagar Nadar Sangangalin Kootamaippu said, “Kamaraj has been praised by thousands of people for his service to the country. To sideline such a great leader is unfair. It will be a shame to the ruling Congress party if the new domestic terminal is not named after him.”
Mr. Nadar added that the group would continue to protest till their demand was fulfilled. They also planned on meeting civil aviation ministry officials soon.
On January 18, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wrote a letter to the Union minister of civil aviation Ajit Singh, which stated, “It would be most fitting if the new domestic terminal II in the Chennai airport is named after Dr. MGR who was one of the most illustrious, charismatic and popular Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu.”
When asked about this letter, where the CM has asked for the terminal to be named after AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran, Mr. Nadar said, “We don’t have a problem with that. But people think it would be more apt to name the proposed Sriperumbudur Green Field airport after Dr. MGR.”
The existing domestic and international terminals are named after former Chief Ministers K. Kamaraj and C.N. Annadurai respectively.
