Chennai: The DMK government immortalised the sacrifices of freedom fighters and took steps to spread their fame whenever the party came to power, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Tuesday. Also, he lashed out at those who "showed a sudden patriotic feeling" for the freedom fighters hailing from the state and reminded them that the last days of the Mahatma Gandhi would tell the story of the "pseudo nationalists".
In a veiled reference to Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, who on Monday claimed that the stature of national freedom fighters who belonged to the state, especially the Maruthu brothers, was reduced to that of caste leaders, the chief minister pointed out that his government had erected a statue for the martyr siblings in Chennai at a cost of Rs 34 lakh earlier this year.
The middle-aged Maruthu Brothers, the first to rebel against the British East India Company rule, were publicly hanged at the Tiruppathur fort on October 24, 1801.
"Whenever the DMK came to power, it took steps to spread the fame of freedom fighters. Late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi eulogised the life and sacrifices of the Maruthu brothers in a historical novel, 'Thenpandi Singam' ('The Lion of the South')," the chief minister said in a post on social media platform X.
While paying tributes to the portrait of the Maruthu brothers in Tiruchirappalli, the Governor had said that the celebration of the freedom fighters' sacrifices had been reduced to just a private affair. "I wonder if Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, and Bhagat Singh, too, would have been reduced to caste leaders had they been born in Tamil Nadu. Such is the situation here today. I think this is not acceptable," Ravi said at the event.
Chief Minister Stalin, without directly naming anyone, today said, "The last days of the Father of the Nation will recount the rise of 'patriots' who speak politely while harbouring contrary thoughts. It is (about) this lot of Godse (assassin of the Mahatma) that Mahakavi Subramania Bharati sang in his poem 'Nadippu Sudesigal (Pseudo Nationalists)," Stalin said.
Meanwhile, in a statement here, DMK Parliamentarian T R Baalu alleged that it has become the wont of the Governor to speak contrary to the truth, as he is unable to digest the word 'Dravidian'. The latest such instance was when he made remarks about the freedom fighters from the state, he said.
The Tamil Nadu government has been honouring the Maruthu brothers as well as Pulithevan, Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Velu Nachiyar, Theeran Chinnamalai, Mahakavi Bharati and several other freedom fighters from the state. The government also implemented a pension scheme for the families of freedom fighters, he said. (PTI)
