It is on Tamil Nadu politics and tweeted by krishashok. I have a lot to say on the topic myself, but most of it has already been said in this article.
(Especially on how the current government tries to appreciate only certain aspects of Tamil literature and ignore everything else! Thiruvalluvar being the epitome of this policy. I admit Valluvar's writings were very good, but he was not the only good writer of Tamil Nadu.)
Plus I like the style of writing- Point Blank. No beating around the bush. I wish our journalists wrote this way...
I feel the reason to be simple. Among the classical Tamil writers thiruvalluvar is pretty famous among the public. Rising a statue may attract few votes for the party.
ReplyDelete@vijay:
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between what IS popular and what is MADE popular. The only kural most of the non-Tamil students knew pre-DMK propoganda was "agara mudala"... And only because Kavithalaya uses it in their movie titles!
I still agree that Valluvar is a good poet etc, but I think the only reason he WAS MADE popular is because he was the only not-so-Hinduism oriented poet. While Manikavasagar has written gems, he can never hope to have a statue simply because he wrote only on religious material. His poetry, even if regarded as good in private, cannot be praised in public by our politicians. WHereas, Valluvar has written more moderate stuff- "aadi mudalvan", "aandavan", "kadavul"- a generic God, not a specific one.
Basically Valluvar is a safe bet!