M.K. Stalin speaks in the Assembly. File
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday (April 2, 2025) announced in the State Assembly that a statue of German philosopher and socialist leader Karl Marx will be installed in Chennai, where the labour movement flourished for over a century. The government will also construct a memorial building for the late All India Forward Bloc leader P.K. Mookiah Thevar in Usilampatti in Madurai district, he said.
Making a suo motu announcement under Rule 110 of the Assembly, Mr. Stalin said: “The Dravidian model government wishes to honour and pay tribute to the great global leader Karl Marx, a visionary thinker and revolutionary who formulated the philosophy of communism and gave the call: ‘workers of the world, unite!’.”
Mr. Stalin’s announcement coincided with the ongoing 24th national congress of the Community Party of India (Marxist) in Madurai. The Chief Minister is scheduled to take part in the event on Thursday evening.
Marx was one of the social thinkers who changed the course of history, Mr. Stalin said, adding that his ideas laid the foundation for several revolutions and many of the changes that the world had witnessed. At a time when no one wrote about India, it was Marx who accurately wrote about the country. In 1931, Periyar (E.V. Ramasamy) translated and published The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Friedrich Engels in Tamil, Mr. Stalin said.
Mookiah Thevar’s legacy
Speaking about Mookiah Thevar, the Chief Minister said at a very young age, he gained the trust of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar and joined the Forward Bloc. He won the 1952 elections from Periyakulam Assembly seat and continued his winning streak in the 1957, 1962, 1967, 1971, and 1977 elections from the Usilampatti Assembly constituency. In 1971, he also won the Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha seat, Mr. Stalin recalled.
“When there was a political change in 1967 in the State, Mookiah Thevar supported Perarignar Anna [C.N. Annadurai]. He served as the pro-tem Speaker of this House at that time and administered the oath to the newly elected MLAs. He also requested Chief Minister Anna to create educational institutions for the Thevar community, which led to the establishment of government colleges in Kamuthi, Usilampatti, and Melaneelithanallur during the DMK regime. He raised his voice in Parliament against the Katchatheevu agreement,” Mr. Stalin added.
CPI(M), other parties welcome move
The Dravidar Kazhagam, CPI(M), CPI, and PMK welcomed Mr. Stalin’s announcement to install the statue of Marx in Chennai.
In a statement, CPI(M) State secretary P. Shanmugam said the party’s executive committee had made a request to the Chief Minister to install the statue. He welcomed the announcement and thanked Mr. Stalin.
Dravidar Kazhagam president K. Veeramani also lauded the announcement and termed it a “significant achievement of the Dravidian model government.”
CPI State secretary R. Mutharasan, welcoming the announcement, said State government’s decision would always shine brightly in history. He also thanked the Chief Minister.
PMK founder S. Ramadoss said the decision to install Marx’s statue is fitting tribute to the leader, who was born in Germany and was a comrade of labourers.
Published – April 03, 2025 03:13 pm IST
