Senior BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan expressed happiness over the chief minister honouring her father's lifetime hard work, dedication and commitment towards the pride of Tamil language and Tamil soil.
Published Aug 17, 2024 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 17, 2024 | 7:00 AM
Tamilisai Soundararajan and Kumari Ananthan with the award citation. (Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan/X)
Born on 19 March 1933 at Kumarimangalam in Kanniyakumari, Kumari Ananthan grew up watching his father, a villupattu artiste, join the non-violent fight for India’s freedom.
He followed in his father’s footsteps to become a staunch Gandhian and a Congress party worker at a tender age. A skillful orator, he went up the hierarchy and became the president of the Tamil Nadu Pradesh Congress Committee, MLA, and MP.
The fighting spirit imbibed from his father, Harikrishnan, and later K Kamaraj, made him raise his voice in Parliament for the right to speak in Tamil in the House. Though expelled multiple times from Parliament, he stood his ground until he was allowed to speak in Tamil on 20 November 1978.
On 15 August, Tamil Nadu honoured the 91-year-old political veteran with the Thagaisal Tamizhar (eminent Tamilian) award. The citation presented to him described him as a “literary gem” and “ocean of literature”.
Ananthan had held protests at central government offices in Tamil Nadu, demanding priority for Tamil in the state.
Though Ananthan followed his father to the Congress — a party which he left a few times to float political outfits and to return — his daughter Tamilisai Soundararajan preferred the BJP. She was the party’s state president.
Incidentally, the award came to Ananthan even as Tamil Nadu, spearheaded by the DMK, has been opposing the Centre for imposing Hindi.
Like any other daughter, Tamilisai, too, was proud to see her father being honoured. “Feel happy as a daughter to see my father’s lifetime hard work, dedication and commitment towards the pride of our Tamil language and Tamil soil being honoured by the chief minister,” the senior BJP leader noted on X. Tamilisai was formerly the Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
The DMK government instituted the award in 2021. It carries a purse of ₹10 lakh, and a citation. Ananthan was presented the award on Thursday, 15 August, on India’s 78th Independence Day.
“I think receiving the Thagaisal Tamilar Award from Kalaignar (artist, referring to M Karunanidhi)’s son is a great blessing given to me by the father and son,” Ananthan, who has authored more than 30 books, said.
Stalin had presented Ananthan the ‘Perunthalaivar Kamarajar’ Award for the year 2021. In September 2022, Stalin allotted a high-income group flat to Ananthan in Tamil Nadu Housing Board’s Anna Nagar Zone. The flat was allotted based on the veteran leader’s request.
Besides Ananthan, ISRO’s P Veeramuthuvel (Project Director-Chandrayaan-3) was awarded the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Award. A Sabeena, a nurse from the Nilgiris district was presented the Kalpana Chawla Award for Courage. She had risked her life to save more than 35 lives affected by a serious of landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad district.
(Edited by Majnu Babu)
(South First is now on WhatsApp and Telegram)
