Everything In A Name

Ask a DMK politician what’s in a name and he will answer without batting aneyelid—everything. Not surprisingly, one of the DMK government’s firstpriorities when it comes to power is to change names at will. In 1967, when it wonelections for the first time, it renamed Madras state Tamil Nadu; after its triumph in1971, buildings were given the names of leaders and districts were renamed. It began itslatest tenure by renaming Madras, the capital, Chennai. While Chennai has been in use inTamil for decades, a section of the anglicised middle class was offended by the change.Little did this powerful section know that it has an ally in the form of the CentralGovernment. Despite the fact that the DMK is part of the UF Government, it has not got theclearance for the change.

While both the Centre and the state government are not willing to comeout in the open about the controversy, Southern Railway has taken the lead in reverting to‘Madras’ in all its official transactions and communications. A circular issuedby the station manager of Chennai Central on February 21, 1997, without mentioning anyreasons, cancelled the revised code initials—‘Chennai’—for the centralstation and other city booking offices with immediate effect.

Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had earlier announced that "the nameMadras traces its origin to some other language. The government has decided that Madraswill hereafter be known in all languages by only one name—Chennai. We will takeappropriate action to give effect to this new measure." The Tamil Nadu LegislativeAssembly passed a bill to enact the change on August 31, 1996. The objects appended to thebill states: "The area comprising the city of Madras has been called Chennai fromancient days. Keeping in mind its universal acceptance as well as the historical, social,cultural and other details of the city of Madras, the government has taken a policydecision that Madras would be hereafter called Chennai in all languages." Replying tothe debate on the bill, Karunanidhi told the House that he would write to all the statesabout the change. The presidential assent to the bill was obtained in September last year.

The DMK leadership blames the Prime Minister’s Office for theUF’s decision. DMK leaders feel that if the Government had no problem in renamingBombay, Trivandrum, Cochin and Calicut, it has no reason to deny the Tamils their wishes.They even see Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s hand in the issue.

Says a senior minister, who did not want to be named: "Gowda isnot treating most coalition parties with due respect. His pastlinks shadow his functioningas the chief executive officer of the country. We are not the only victim. ChandrababuNaidu feels it, Mulayam Singh Yadav resents it, the CPI is also not too happy and the AGPtries to gloss over it. The threat of the BJP cannot give him the room to extend theboundary line of our tolerance." The DMK high command has instructed Murasoli Maran,the party’s parliamentary leader and industry minister, to sort it out with the highcommand. The Budget session may have prevented the DMK from going public, but if the issueis not sorted out amicably, it could spell trouble for the UF.