CHENNAI: As corporations in the State have got their elected mayors, questions have been raised if the honorific prefix of Mayor will revert to 'Worshipful' after being changed to 'Honourable' by the AIADMK government.
Even though all the ministers, including the Chief Minister, are addressed as 'Honourable' (Manbumigu), Mayors had been called as 'Worshipful' (Vankaththirkuriya) till 2014. The then AIADMK government headed by late CM J Jayalalithaa changed the prefix to 'Honourable' through a Government Order.
When questioned if the Mayor should be called 'Honourable' or 'Worshipful', Health Minister Ma Subramanian said CM Stalin will decide on reversing the G.O. "The post of Mayor originated in London city in the 12th century. Since then, they have been addressed as 'Worshipful'. However, then CM Jayalalithaa changed it to 'Honourable' as she didn’t want anyone to have a prefix that was above hers," said Subramanian.
Even though the office assistants of ministers and even Governors are called duffedar, office assistants of Mayors are called Jamedars. Meanwhile, AIADMK functionaries said the prefix was used when there were only a few corporations. "As the number of corporations increased, the government wanted to have a uniform way of addressing Mayors because of which it was changed," said a party functionary.
Some leaders are against reverting to the 'Worshipful' prefix as it was created during colonial times. "Chief Minister MK Stalin has retained several good initiatives of the previous government, including Amma Canteens. In a similar way, the change to 'Honourable' should also be continued. Muslims can’t worship anyone other than God. So, the Mayor should remain Honourable," said MH Jawahirullah, Papanasam MLA.