The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `Sanction project to publish works of Periyar, Anna'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 03, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`Sanction project to publish works of Periyar, Anna'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, APRIL 2. The Tamil Nadu Government should come forward to sanction a project to publish the writings and speeches of the late leaders, Periyar and Annadurai, the former Anna University Vice-Chancellor, V.C. Kulandaiswamy said here today.

Participating in a function organised at Periyar Thidal by the Dravidar Kazhagam, Dr. Kulandaiswamy said that so far 100 volumes of Gandhiji's writings, 18 volumes of Dr. Ambedkar's works and eight volumes of Swami Vivekananda's writings had been released. But in the case of Periyar there was only one book in English. He said that it was not correct to imagine that one had understood Periyar fully. The coming generation might find greater meaning in Periyar's writings than what present-day society understood. So it was the responsibility of the present generation to bequeath to posterity the message of EVR and allow it to be interpreted by the coming generations, he said.

Describing Periyar as a great humanist, Dr. Kulandaiswamy said that besides fighting for freedom, he fought against 2000 years of "casteist tyranny" and was a role model for others who wanted to serve society in a selfless manner.

The secretary of the Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Institution, K. Veeramani, said more volumes of Periyar's works in English would be released soon to facilitate people to study his works at the international level. Similarly, Periyar's works would be translated in to other Indian languages for the benefit of people who were committed to social justice.

P. Venugopal, retired judge of Madras Court, said that a Periyar-Maniammai University should be set up in Vallam near Thanjavur. He regretted that the present Periyar University in Salem was not functioning effectively and wanted Mr. Veeramani to do the spadework to establish the new university.

He released a book in English, `Collected Works of Periyar EVR,' the first copy of which was received by Dr. Kulandaiswamy.

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