Exactly 50 years ago, on this day, then Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai moved a resolution in the Madras Legislative Assembly seeking to declare the State government’s “firm opinion” that the name of Madras State (as mentioned in the Constitution of India) should be changed to ‘Tamil Nadu’. The resolution was passed unanimously.
The term ‘Tamil Nadu’ was in use among the public even earlier and there had been several demands for renaming Madras State. But, only on July 18, 1967, a resolution reflecting the popular sentiment was passed in the Fourth Assembly.
According to a report in The Hindu on July 19, 1967, the Chief Minister, after the resolution was adopted, uttered “Tamil Nadu” and the members responded in their full-throated voice with “ Vazhga !” (Long live).
The demand for renaming the State grew stronger especially after the States were organised along linguistic lines as per the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, says advocate and DMK spokesperson K.S. Radhakrishnan. Attempts by the DMK to move resolutions on this in 1957 and 1964 were defeated by the Congress.
“The passage of time and the DMK’s 1967 victory had changed the dynamics, and soon after becoming Chief Minister, Annadurai successfully passed the resolution,” says R. Kannan, Annadurai’s biographer.
‘Cultural nationalism’
All sections of the House, including then Leader of the Opposition P.G. Karuthiruman (Congress), supported the resolution. “It was a clever and ingenious way of obtaining a sense of sovereignty, but within the Union,” contends Mr. Kannan, adding it was also about “cultural nationalist assertion.”
“One of the main reasons given by Annadurai was that ‘Madras’ was the name of the capital city as well as the State. It was Annadurai who insisted that the State should be spelled as Tamil Nadu, the simple form, not Tamizh Nadu,” Mr. Kannan says, recalling Annadurai’s arguments for ‘Tamil Nadu’ in Rajya Sabha debates. Historian K. Thirunavukkarasucontends that the demand of the DMK was not opposed openly by the Congress, which however had some reservations.
Before the resolution was passed, the State government had in April, 1967, displayed a neon-light name board in the Secretariat campus that read: ‘ Tamizhaga Arasu – Thalaimai Cheyalagam’ (Tamil Nadu government — Secretariat). The State government also changed its motto, ‘ Satyameva Jayate ’ in Sanskrit in the State emblem to ‘ Vaaimaye Vellum ’ (Truth Alone Triumphs) in Tamil. In January, 1969, the State was officially renamed ‘Tamil Nadu.’
