DMK to launch year-long celebrations of late MK's birth centenary

CHENNAI: Various national leaders will descend on Tamil Nadu's Tiruvarur on June 3 when the DMK will launch its year-long celebrations of the birth centenary of late party president and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.

A meeting of the DMK's district secretaries, held under party president and TN chief minister M K Stalin here on Wednesday resolved to celebrate the late patriarch's birth centenary in a grand manner.

According to a party release, a "Kalaignar Kottam" complex, a museum and a marriage hall will be inaugurated by "national leaders" at Tiruvarur, Karunanidhi's native district on June 3, when the year-long centenary celebrations will start.

On that day, "all-India leaders will also speak" at a public meeting, it said.

A 'Kottam' is Tamil refers to a temple-like structure built in memory of a revered person.

The district secretaries meeting resolved it was "befitting" that the late party chief's centenary celebrations came at a time when the party's inclusive "Dravidian model of governance" had attracted national attention.

Karunanidhi was instrumental in ensuring, among others, safeguarding Tamil, growth of Tamil Nadu, Dravidian self-respect, federalism and brotherhood, the meeting resolved.

The district secretaries also decided to launch a massive membership drive on June 3 to enroll one crore individuals into the party, to the existing similar number.