DMK celebrates Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu rendition in Vatican; BJP joins the party

CHENNAI: The ruling DMK on Sunday turned euphoric over the rendition of Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu, the official state song or Tamil anthem in the Holy Vatican. The euphoria started after State IT minister Mano Thangaraj posted a video late Saturday of nuns singing “Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu” in the Vatican church. Thangaraj posted the video on his official Twitter handle with the message, “Tamil Thaai Vazhthu echoed in Italy.” In another message posted on Twitter, the IT minister Tweeted, “The pride of Tamil echoed in Italy. Tamil was felicitated by singing Tamil Thaai Vazhthu at the canonization of Saint Devasahayam Pillai, a saint from Tamil Nadu who lived in the 18th century.” Thangaraj, accompanied by State Minorities Welfare Minister Masthan and State Minorities Welfare Commission Peter Alphonse had gone to the ultimate seat of the Catholic church in the Vatican to attend the canonization of a Saint from Tamil Nadu.

The minister’s jubilation did not go unnoticed back home in Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister M K Stalin seized the opportunity to celebrate Tamil pride by posting “Tamilanangu”, a graphic image of mother Tamil holding a spear bearing the Tamil letter ‘Zha’ on top. The image became popular a few weeks ago after Oscar-winning music composer A R Rahman first posted the graphic image, which became a favorite of the Dravidian movement-loving Twitterati. The image posted by Stalin on his official Twitter account also bore a one-liner from a poem by poet Bharathidasan.

Understandably, the ruling DMK’s celebration of Tamil pride had impacted the opposition camp. State BJP president K Annamalai posted a pictorial message of Tamil Thaai with a line from Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai’s Tamil Thaai Vazhthu (official song of the state government) around 15 minutes after Stalin posted his tweet. The only difference between the two images was that the image of Mother Tamil posted by Annamalai had a saffron background with mother Tamil resembling the familiar Hindu goddesses.