TN Govt Withdraws Order to Change Names of 1,018 Localities

DMK’s Stalin hit out at the ruling dispensation on the matter, saying it has become a ‘U-turn government.’

Tamil Nadu government has ‘withdrawn’ its order on replacing anglicised versions of Tamil names of 1,000 plus localities in the state with precise vernacular ones, saying it was working on alignment of views by experts on transliteration standards.

(Photo: Edited by The Quint)

The Tamil Nadu government withdrew the controversial order changing the English names of 1,018 places in the state after a lot of criticism over the decision and timing of the change amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The state had released an order replacing anglicised versions of Tamil names of several localities with precise vernacular ones.

Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture, K Pandiarajan said the government will reissue the order shortly after making necessary changes.

“We are working on alignment of views by experts on Transliteration standards from Tamil to English. Hopefully, we should get this released in 2/3 days. The GO on the change of English names for Tamil names for places has been withdrawn,” the tweet read.

Some changes made were Coimbatore into Koyampuththur, Tuticorin to Thooththukkudi, Vellore to Veeloor, Chennai's Egmore to Ezhumboor, Tondiyarpet to Thandaiyaarpettai and Guindy had become Gindi, which drew a lot of flak.

Names of famous temple towns Srivilliputtur and Srirangam were changed to Thiruvillipuththur and Thiruvarangam respectively, discarding their Sanskrit prefixes.

Opposition Lashes Out

Opposition leader MK Stalin hit out at the government saying it has become a ‘U-turn government.’

The industrialist Gopal Srinivasan had slammed the state government in a tweet, Dravidian ideologue Su Ba Veerapandian told Scroll.in that if the government really wanted to help restore the authenticity, it should first provide a standard for English spellings. “It’s not too late for transliteration standard!,” he said.