Religious worship is part of Tamil identity: Puducherry Lieutenant Governor

COIMBATORE: Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday said attempts have been made for a long time to hide the cultural identity of Tamils.

“Tamil Nadu is a land of temples and nowhere else in the country are there such diverse temples. Religious worship is part of Tamil identity. Tamil people built temples for Shiva and Vishnu, which are part of Hinduism. All Chera, Chola, Pandya and Pallava kings were religious and their regimes reflected their worship. It is unfortunate that some people have been trying to hide Tamils’ Hindu identity for personal gains, and it is not acceptable,” she told the media at the Coimbatore airport when asked for a response on the recent comments made by director Vetrimaran and actor Kamal Hassan.

Speaking about the strike by electricity board workers and the resultant power outage in Puducherry recently, the Lieutenant Governor said the problem was resolved in four hours and that she was in constant touch with officials.

“Many people think the entire department would be privatised. In fact, people benefitted in many Union territories after the power sector was privatised. The tariff came down and there is round-the-clock uninterrupted power supply,” she said.

Tamizh Thai Vazhthu not played at event
The government had declared ‘Tamil Thai Vazhthu’ as the State anthem, but it was not played during the event held on Thursday evening at the Avinashilingam University in which Tamilisai participated. SP Thyagarajan, chancellor of the university,  told TNIE that they missed playing the State anthem due to an oversight, and assured that it would not happen again.