CHENNAI: The modest-sized Kalaignar Library, recently established by the DMK youth wing on Avvai Shanmugam road, falling under Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni constituency, has been actively engaging the youth through its daily readers’ circle discussions
The party’s youth wing, as per the directions of its head Udhayanidhi, has undertaken the task of establishing one such Kalaignar Library in each of the 234 Assembly constituencies across the state. Such libraries have been so far opened in 100 constituencies, many of which were inaugurated by Udhayanidhi himself during his visits to the district, party sources said.
The wing has ensured that each library houses at least 1,200 books, including 100 books for competitive exams and another 100 for children. If any functionary reaches out for setting up a library, Anbagam, the headquarters of the party’s youth wing, promptly sends 500 books as a gesture of support.
At the library in Triplicane, inaugurated on May 9, youth wing functionaries have been hosting one-hour readers’ circle discussions every evening to engage with the youth of the constituency.
The attendees are not necessarily affiliated with the party. Rather, they are mostly college students. Area-level youth wing functionaries are assigned the task of encouraging and bringing 10-15 youngsters to each session, where the main speaker is typically one of the young orators recently selected by the youth wing through a state-level elocution competition.
DMK’s Chennai West unit’s youth wing organiser B Prakash said, “Our party has 14 ward-level units in the Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni constituency. Our functionaries are bringing at least 10 youngsters from each ward to the readers’ circle discussions daily. As of May 27, we have completed sessions in five wards.”
Tiruppur Magizhavan, the orator on Tuesday, addressed the gathering by highlighting the Dravidian movement’s emphasis on education and the large-scale libraries being established by the present DMK government. He expressed concern over the National Education Policy 2020. AK Jayapriyan, a BA economics student and one of the attendees, said much of the information shared during the discussions was new to him. At the end of the discussions, all participants were presented books on Dravidian movement.
Expanding the initiative
Youth wing functionaries said they plan to expand the readers’ circle initiative to libraries in other constituencies, viewing it as a way to both engage young minds and build a strong grassroots base for the party in the future