CHENNAI: Much to the dismay of Tamil lovers, Thirukkural couplets have been removed from many government buses in Chennai.
Mofussil buses operated from Chennai to Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Villupuram districts and Puducherry run without the couplets for the past several months and in some buses couplet stickers were removed, say regular commuters.
Besides, Thirukkural is also not displayed in the newly launched low-cost AC buses to Puducherry and Tiruvannamalai.
In 1968, the then government headed by C N Annadurai ordered display of a couplet of Thirukkural along with authorised picture of poet Thiruvalluvar in all government buses. The government said the initiative was aimed at inculcating the spirit of Thirukkural among government employees and the public.
Tamil scholar Era Kaliayaperumal (84), a retired professor of Navalar Na. Mu. Venkatasamy Nattar Thiruvarul Kalloori, Thanjavur, condemned the disappearance of Thirukkural and termed it ‘disrespect to the literature and poet.’
He said Thirukkural was first displayed in a bus operated from MLA’s hostel to Secretariat in 1967. “Responding to a query of Congress MLA in the Assembly, the then Chief Minister Annadurai explained the significance of Thirukkural. Subsequently, the government decided to display the portraits in local body offices and schools,” he recalled.
“The rulers have no intellectual honesty and morality. Thirukkural has something for everyone in society. It is not literature belonging to people of any particular faith.”
Mofussil buses which are operated by Villupuram division of TNSTC from Koyambedu and KK Nagar are seven to ten years old and the stickers of ‘Kural’ are said to have been removed during maintenance. However, transport officials denied it.
K Siva Naren, a school teacher from Thirukovilur said, “Thirukkural couplets have been replaced with private advertisements and stickers that contain quotes of religious textbooks. The Kural sticker will cost less than `50, but the corporations failed to replace the stickers. Except in a few buses, Thirukkural had been removed in a majority of Express buses in Chennai - Tiruvannamalai and Chennai - Gingee routes,”
When contacted, R Muthukrishnan, Managing Director, TNSTC (Villupuram) claimed that ‘Thirukkural’ couplets are displayed in all buses and so far they have not got any plaint.