The diamond jubilee of the Tamil Nadu State Assembly was celebrated on Friday in a grand manner at Fort St George, which houses the historic Assembly hall, in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, Governor K Rosaiah and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
While the President laid the foundation for a hostel for former legislators of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the Chief Minister released a special souvenir to mark the diamond jubilee, the first copy of which was received by the President.
Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal honoured three veteran members of the First Assembly — R Krishnasamy Gopalan, elected from Pattukottai (1955-57), industrialist N Mahalingam elected from Pollachi (1952-57) and R M Palaniappan elected from Thirumayam (1952-57).
Mukherjee hailed the services of former Chief Ministers of the State — K Kamaraj, M Bhakthavatsalam, C N Annadurai and M G Ramachandran. He also made a special mention of the welfare schemes of Jayalalithaa and recalled that he had the opportunity to listen to her maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha a few decades ago.
In her keynote address, Jayalalithaa traced the origin of the Assembly. She said the evolution of the Legislature was a steady process, ground and refined through various Acts. Jayalalithaa said this year has seen the celebrations of the 300th year of the City of Madras, the 150th year of the Madras High Court and now the 60th year of the Tamil Nadu Assembly. Presiding over the event, Rosaiah recalled the stellar role of former Chief Ministers in shaping the destiny of the State. “I congratulate Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for providing good governance and for working with dedication and commitment towards making Tamil Nadu the numero uno State in India,” he said.
After the function, high tea was hosted in honour of the President in which Rosaiah, CM Jayalalithaa, Speaker Dhanapal and top officials took part.