Chennai, Apr 9: Veteran Congress leader and noted orator in Tamil, Kumari Ananthan who fought for and succeeded in addressing the Parliament in Tamil language has died, his family said on Wednesday.
He was 92 and he passed away around 12.15 AM, Wednesday. Kumari Ananthan, a former President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC), is survived by a son and four daughters, including senior BJP leader and former Governor of Telangana, Tamilisai Soundararajan.
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, Chief Minister M K Stalin, Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami, VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan and other leaders visited Soundararajan’s residence, laid wreaths on the body of the departed leader and conveyed their condolences to the bereaved family members.
In his condolence message, Stalin said Ananthan’s death is a huge loss for the Tamil society and announced government honours, a state funeral, for the departed leader.
AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami, TNCC chief K Selvaperunthagai, Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai, State secretaries of CPI and CPI(M), R Mutharasan and P Shanmugam respectively, MDMK chief Vaiko, PMK founder S Ramadoss, DMDK General Secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth, AMMK chief TTV Dhinakaran and Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam chief Vijay condoled Kumari Ananthan’s death.
Selvaperunthagai said Ananthan had traversed a total of 5,548 kilometers in his 17 padayatras to press for various demands and praised Ananthan as a great Gandhian.
Tamil Nadu Assembly condoled the passing away of Ananthan and conveyed its condolences to bereaved Tamilisai Soundararajan and the Congress party. After Speaker M Appavu read out the condolence message, the members observed 2-minutes of silence as a mark of respect to the departed leader.
In his condolence message, Stalin praised Ananthan as a disciple of Congress icon and former Chief Minister K Kamaraj, who earned people’s respect through his hard work and served the people as an MP once and four times as an MLA.
The chief minister said: “The credit for establishing the right to speak in Tamil in the Parliament will go only to him.” The chief minister recalled late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s praise for Ananthan in this regard.
Further, he said that Ananthan dedicated his life for serving the Tamil language and in order to honour him, the Tamil Nadu government conferred the Thagaisal Tamizhar (Eminent Tamilian) Award on him.
“He will be in our hearts,” Stalin said and conveyed his condolences and sympathies to Ananthan’s family members including Tamilisai Soundararajan and Congress party workers.
MDMK general secretary Vaiko showered praises on Ananthan for getting the right to speak in Tamil in the Parliament and also for his struggle to get Tamil version in application forms such as the ‘money order’ form of the postal department.
Vaiko said Ananthan fought for liquor ban all his life and hailed him as ‘Thiyaga Sudar’ (flame of sacrifice), who followed on the path of Kamaraj.
Born at Agastheeswaram in Kanyakumari district on March 19, 1933, he was elected to Parliament from Nagercoil constituency in 1977 and he is well known for his ‘padayatras’ rooting for Kamaraj rule (re-establishment of Congress rule in Tamil Nadu) and propagating Gandhian ideals.
‘Kumari’ is a reference to Kanyakumari district. “Ilakiya selvar,” which denotes profound knowledge in literature is Ananthan’s well known sobriquet.
Tamilisai Soundararjan praised her father for his unblemished political career, love for the Tamil language and his principled, disciplined life, whose journey started from a small village in Kanyakumari district. (PTI)
