Controversy
The previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Government of Tamil Nadu had declared in 2008 that the Tamil new year should be celebrated on the first day of Tamil month of Thai (14 January) coinciding with the harvest festival of Pongal. The Tamil Nadu New Year (Declaration Bill 2008) was introduced in the House by the Tamil Nadu Government on 29 January 2008. This bill of the DMK Administration was subsequently rescinded by a separate act of legislation in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on 23 August 2011.
The earlier legislative enactment of the DMK government was not without controversy . The resolution was met with resistance. It was challenged in court. The then opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in Tamil Nadu subsequently condemned the decision of the DMK Government in that state and urged their supporters to continue celebrating the traditional date in mid-April. Tamils in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and Canada continued to observe the new year in mid-April. Many in Tamil Nadu continued the celebration of the new year in mid-April. The Governor and Chief Minister of the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry, which has an ethnic Tamil majority, felicitated the public for the Tamil new year in April 2010. The previous state government in Tamil Nadu in an effort to accommodate popular sentiment conceded the celebration of the April new year with a new term called “Chithirai Tirunal” (the festival of Chithirai). The day remained a public holiday in Tamil Nadu albeit purportedly to commemorate Dr. B.R Ambedkar, who was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of Indian Constitution. All television channels in Tamil Nadu continued to telecast festive “Chithirai Tirunal Special Programs” on 14 April 2010. The leader of the AIADMK, Jayalalitha felicitated the people on the traditional Tamil New Year. The MDMK leader Vaiko, followed suit. Press reports indicated that the people in Tamil Nadu celebrated the Tamil New Year with enthusiasm and thronged the temples in thousands. There are others who highlight the absence of historical and literary evidence for the change in new year. The 2008 legislation of the previous DMK-led administration has since been annulled by an act of the Tamil Nadu Assembly in August, 2011.The controversy has now subsided and the official celebrations during the traditional new year in April revived.
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