New Delhi: Prime Minister Modi will officially inaugurate the Kashi Tamil Sangam program in Varanasi tomorrow. The event is going to be held in a grand manner with Ilayaraja Innisai.
The ‘Kashi Tamil Sangam’ program started yesterday in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, under the auspices of the Union Ministry of Education. The event takes place throughout the Tamil month of Karthika at the Banaras Hindu University campus. Prime Minister Modi will officially inaugurate the event tomorrow (Nov 19). A Tamil music concert by music composer Ilayaraja will also be held here. Prime Minister Modi, who will participate in the program that will last for about 3 hours, will enjoy the music of Ilayaraja Group.
In this event, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, West Bengal Governor Ila Ganesan, Puducherry Governor Tamilisai Soundarajan and Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai, Senior Leaders Pon. Radhakrishnan, H. Raja, Vanathi Srinivasan
MLAs and others are participating. 650 Tamilians in 3 trains left from Tamil Nadu for Varanasi yesterday. PM Modi is also likely to go directly to Varanasi railway station tomorrow to welcome the Tamils. Similarly, 4 more teams are going to go to Varanasi in succession. Welcome banners written in Tamil have been put up all over Varanasi regarding the Tamil Sangam.
In this regard, some BJP national leaders told the ‘Hindu Tamil’ newspaper that, “The central government is organizing the Tamil Sangam program to surpass the classical conference held by the DMK in Coimbatore. In order to avoid controversies in Tamil Nadu, the arrangements for the program were not informed in advance. We are of the view that the Tamil Nadu government did not participate in this event considering that there is politics behind this event,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has intensified the work of setting up a memorial in the house where Bharatiyar stayed to attract Tamils coming to Varanasi. Tamil Nadu Press and Public Relations Director Jayaseelan, who came to Varanasi yesterday, left for Delhi only after visiting Bharatiyar’s house. Chief Minister Stalin is expected to inaugurate Bharatiyar Memorial in a week via video from Chennai.
The central government has already tried to convert Bharathiar’s house into a memorial. In this regard, Tarun Vijay, who was a Rajya Sabha MP, along with a large number of BJP members, went to the house where Bharatiyar’s grandson KV Krishnan (96) currently lives in Varanasi. But KV Krishnan refused to give the house as he was living with his family. However, the Tamil Nadu government talks to him and turns only one room into a memorial.
Live Broadcasting University Grants Commission (UGC) Secretary Rajnish Jain, in a circular sent to all University Vice-Chancellors and administrators, said, “The Central Government has organized the Kashi Tamil Sangam program in Varanasi. Here, apart from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, various parties like culture, education departments, publishing houses will have exhibition halls. “Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate this event tomorrow. Arrangements should be made to telecast live in colleges and universities so that students can see this event. Also, this should be uploaded on the UAM website,” he said.