Tamil Nadu – Vazhga slogans rent the air around the Tamil Nadu Assembly precincts on July 18, 1967 after the House unanimously passed a resolution, renaming the Madras State as ‘Tamil Nadu’. Then Chief Minister Perarignar Anna (C N Annadurai) after the resolution was passed, uttered ‘Tamil Nadu’ thrice and the members responded with ‘Vazhga’ (Long live) in their fullthroated voice. Taking a leaf from the pages of history, the present DMK Chief Minister M.K Stalin said it would be more appropriate to celebrate the historic day as Tamil Nadu’s birthday and announced that July 18 would be celebrated as Tamil Nadu Day, instead of November 1, announced by the previous AIADMK regime, which only signified the ‘border struggle’. “Icon of Tamils, Anna, had christened the land of Tamils as Tamil Nadu on July 18 and the State would soon issue a Government Order to celebrate the Day,” Mr Stalin said in a tweet. He said November 1, 1956 marked the linguistic reorganization of states in the country, after which parts of erstwhile Madras State went to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. After the AIADMK government had declared November 1 as ‘Tamil Nadu Day’ in 2019, various political parties, Tamil scholars and activists expressed the view that it would not be appropriate to observe that day as ‘Tamil Nadu Day’. Instead, they insisted that July 18 would be a more appropriate date. While reversing the previous government’s decision, Mr Stalin announced a purse of Rs. One lakh each to 110 ‘Border Saviours’ in recognition of their participation in the ‘border struggle’. The state government had been providing monthly financial assistance of Rs 5,500 along with medical allowance of Rs 500 to the 110 Border Saviours and an allowance of Rs 3,000 and medical assistance of Rs 500 to 137 legal heirs of the saviours....