Chennai: The 55th death anniversary of former Chief Minister and DMK founder C N Annadurai was observed all over the State with his followers paying homage to his portraits and putting out social media messages remembering him and recounting significant anecdotes underlining his political genius.
Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is away in Spain to seek industrial and business investments in Tamil Nadu, paid floral tributes to Annadurai’s portrait in Madrid, along with State Minister for Industries T R B Raaja and his wife Durga Stalin, who have accompanied him on the trip.
Uploading the photograph of his paying homage to the party founder on social media channel X, Stalin referred to the procession taken out by DMK cadre in Chennai and called upon them to work hard to achieve State autonomy.
Statues of Annadurai across the State were garlanded by his admirers and political functionaries belonging to both the DMK and AIADMK.
Leader of the opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami paid homage to a decorated photograph at his official residence in Greenways Road in Chennai and also visited his memorial on Marina sands.
State Ministers and DMK leaders also visited Anna Samadhi and paid respects, while Dravidar Kazhagam president K Veeramani, in his message, credited Annadurai with three landmark achievements.
One was giving legal sanction to self-respect marriages, two, naming the State as Tamil Nadu and three, ensuring Tamil and English remained the official languages in the State.
Former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, too, paid homage at Anna Samadhi along with his supporters and hailed Annadurai as a leader who believed in bringing in changes only for the progress of the people.
BJP State President K Annamalai in his message in X hailed Annadurai as a humble leader of the State who refused to earn revenue for the State through the lifting of prohibition. Paying encomiums to Annadurai, the BJP leader said that he did not pave the way for his family members to succeed him in the party.
However, Annamalai's message evoked scornful responses with some social media users asking him if it was not he who wanted to demolish the Dravidian parties and some telling him that Annadurai did not live in a mansion whose rent was taken care of by his friends.
