The harvest festival of ‘Onam’, celebrated in Kerala, is intertwined with the Dravidian culture, but there were attempts by a certain section to snatch its identity in the name of ‘Vamana Jayanthi’, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said on Monday.
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Quoting from Maduraikanchi of the Sangam corpus, Mr. Stalin contended: “Some are trying to snatch the identity of Onam which is intertwined with Dravidian culture. The people of Kerala would boycott these efforts.” Onam was being celebrated not only as a harvest festival in Kerala but also to commemorate the homecoming of “Dravidian king Maveli who was defeated through deceit,” Mr. Stalin said.
The people of the country were aware and they would celebrate Onam in such a way to defeat attempts by selfish elements to divide people and benefit from the division, Mr. Stalin said.
The Chief Minister further wished that Onam be a day on which people pledged to protect India. “Let this year be the one in which entire India moves in the progressive political path put forth by the people of the South.”
Mr. Stalin said that it was during the Chief Ministership of late leader M. Karunanidhi the State government declared local holiday for Onam in Kanniyakumari, Coimbatore, the Nilgiris and Chennai, which have a sizeable population of Keralites.