Chennai: The seeds of the freedom movement that gained independence to India on his day in 1947 was sown in Tamil soil as protests against foreign occupation erupted soon after the East India Company set foot in the country in the 17th century, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Tuesday.
Though history recorded the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny as the first war of independence, the struggle for freedom from foreign yoke had begun in Tamil soil way back in 1755 itself with the war cry for liberty being raised even as the fetters of enslavement were being clamped, Stalin said in his Independence Day Address in Chennai.
Recalling a historic event that happened in 1930 at the same ramparts from where he had hoisted the national tricolor, he said the incident surprised the British colonists when they saw the India flag fluttering atop their flag mast at the dawn of January 26, the day that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had assigned for hoisting the flag all over the country.
A young man by name Bhasyam alias Arya had climbed the tall flag mast at night under cover of darkness evading the security in Fort St George and also deftly hiding himself from being caught by the beams of the rotating lighthouse from the nearby High Court premises that shone on the flag mast periodically and reached the top to removed the Union Jack and replace it with the tricolor there, he said.
The tricolor and the flag mast, thus, had a history of sacrifice, he said, adding that it was the Indian flag that united the diverse people of the country who spoke different languages, hailed from various races and practiced diverse religions. ‘If we live under a single umbrella despite the diversity it is because of the tricolor,’ he said.
Elaborating on the welfare schemes of the DMK government, he said the scheme providing for free bus for women would be renamed as ‘Vidial Paynam’ (Journey of Dawn) as it marked the new dawn to which the State had woken up with the DMK coming to power. The scheme enabled 50 lakh women to travel free of cost every day and so 314 crore journeys had been made by women in the government buses with each beneficiary saving an average of over Rs 850 per month, he said.
He also mentioned about the other welfare schemes to help women, particularly students like the Pudhumai Penn that helped girls continue their education after school.
The breakfast scheme for government school students, launched by his government after he realized the need for it while inspecting schools, would be extended from August 25 to all the 31,008 government schools, benefitting 15.75 lakh students.
The scheme would be launched in the alma mater of M Karunanidhi in Thirukkuvalai village in Tiruvarur and Rs 404 crore has been allotted for the project, he said, reiterating that women would start getting a monthly assistance of Rs 1,000 Under the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam (Kalaignar Women Rights Scheme) from September 15, the birth anniversary of C N Annadurai.
The Rs one lakh subsidy given for women to buy auto rickshaws would be extended to 500 more beneficiaries, he said and also announced the setting up of a 'Kalaignar Centenary Park' at a cost of Rs 25 crore on a piece of 6.09 acre land in Cathedral Road in the heart of Chennai.
Recalling the past contributions of the governments led by DMK towards national welfare, he said that in 1971, the State donated Rs 6 crore out of the total Rs 25 crore given by all the State to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the Indo-Pakistan war. Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister at that time, he said
Another announcement, costing Rs 7 crore, pertained to the welfare of ex-service men. Stalin unveiled a plan for upskilling ex-service personnel through proper training to enhance their re-employment opportunities and facilitating their placements.
