CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday unanimously adopted a special resolution reaffirming that ‘Tamil Thai Vaazhthu’ must be sung first at all functions in the state, including government, educational or other institutional events.
Moving the resolution during the second day of debate on the budget statement, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay said, “If a party has a problem in Tamil Nadu, that party alone fights it. But if it concerns Tamil, the whole of Tamil Nadu fights for it.” He clarified that the move was “not against anyone” but an expression of “unity in diversity”.
The CM said that Tamil needed no introduction anywhere in the world. “There is no country without Tamil speakers. Say the word ‘Tamil,’ and all of us turn around, that is our identity,” he said, adding, “A name itself is a history and that is Tamil.”
Vijay noted that he had written to the centre last month, specifically demanding that Tamil Thai Vaazhthu be sung first, and said its primacy was “against no one”. He cited a July 9, 2026 communication from the Union Home Ministry on which song ought to be sung first, as the trigger for the House to formally place the practice on record.
He traced the practice of rendering the song to a November 23, 1970 government order that first mandated Tamil Thai Vaazhthu — drawn from the prelude of Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai’s 1891 play ‘Manonmaniam’ — be sung at the start of government functions, and noted that the song was accorded official state recognition on December 17, 2021, with a further directive that all educational institutions, universities, government offices and public sector bodies in TN sing it before any event begins.
Vijay said Tamil, one of the world’s oldest classical languages, and Tamil civilisational identity deserved to be recorded with pride by the House.
First spot for state song, a tradition since 1970s
The resolution noted that Tamil Nadu’s practice of opening events with Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu has been in unbroken effect since the 1970s across government functions and educational institutions, sanctioned by successive government orders.
The House then resolved that Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu is an expression of the respect owed to the Tamil language and Tamil culture, and that consistent with the linguistic and cultural rights guaranteed under the Constitution and in order to preserve Tamil Nadu’s cultural identity, the song must be sung first at every event held by all educational institutions, universities, government offices, public sector undertakings and other public bodies in the state, before any other proceeding begins.
Supporting the resolution former DMK minister Govi Chezhiyaan demanded it as an act to protect the rights of the state.
Welcoming the move, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami traced former chief ministers CN Annadurai, MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa’s contribution to Tamil.