CHENNAI: It seems the ruling DMK is determined to take the battle to BJP's camp, after the Centre rejected Tamil Nadu's tableau for the Republic Day parade set to take place in New Delhi. The tableau featured freedom fighters from the State such as VO Chidambaranar and Rani Velu Nachiyar.
Earlier, Chief Minister MK Stalin had announced that the 'rejected' tableau would be displayed during the R-Day celebrations in Chennai and would be taken to other major cities as well. Now, MP and DMK women's wing secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi has released a 160-second video about VO Chidamabranar, titled 'The Name is VO Chidambaranar' on her Twitter handle.
The disclaimer of the video says, "This video was created solely to highlight the significance of Tamil leaders in the freedom struggle in English, with Hindi subtitles for broader reach and better understanding."
The video starts with the question, "Are you really not aware of who VOC is?" and goes on to highlight his contributions to the struggle for independence, including his trade union activities.
It also mentions other freedom fighters of the State. The clip ends with the message: “VO Chidambaranar is an everlasting name, not only in the history of Tamil Nadu but also in the history of Indian Independence.”
On the reasons behind releasing such a video, Kanimozhi told The New Indian Express, "We have declared in the video that it is meant only to highlight the significance of Tamil leaders to the freedom struggle. It has Hindi subtitles for bigger reach. A video about Velu Nachiyar will also be released shortly."
One of the State-level leaders of the party told The New Indian Express on condition of anonymity, "In the past, the Dravidian movement had created awareness among people by establishing street-corner libraries across the State. Now, it is the 'Social Media Era'. Hence, our women’s wing leader has released this video."
He added: "During discussions for selecting the tableau, the central committee members had described VO Chidambaranar as a businessman and asked why he should be given such importance. Hence, to take his life and contributions to a non-Tamil audience, the video has been released in English with Hindi subtitles."
Meanwhile, the video has been received well in social media. It had witnessed more than 54,000 views, 1,352 retweets and 3,192 likes within eight hours.The rejection of the tableau is likely to remain a topic of discussion in the State’s political arena for some time.