Confer Bharat Ratna on Jayalalithaa, Annadurai: TN CM Urges Centre

The TN government also demanded that the Chennai Central railway station be re-named after MG Ramachandran.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and Jayalalithaa.

(Photo: The Quint)

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami on Monday, 8 October, urged the Modi government to confer the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour, on late J Jayalalithaa and Dravidian icon C N Annadurai, reported ANI.

Palaniswami also asked the Centre to rename the Chennai Central railway station after AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran.

The chief minister put forward his demand during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

“In our meeting with prime minister today, we have put forward a demand to accord Bharat Ratna to ‘Amma’ and Arignar Anna (CN Annadurai). We also demanded the Chennai Central railway station to be renamed after AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran.”

E Palaniswami, TN Chief Minister to ANI

Earlier in September, the Tamil Nadu chief minister wrote to the prime minister demanding that the Modi government honour the Dravidian leaders.

The Bharat Ratna "would be the most fitting way to recognise the extraordinary public service, phenomenal achievements and the remarkable life of one of the most influential political leaders of independent India," Palaniswami said in the letter to PM Modi, recalling Jayalalithaa's welfare measures and initiatives, reported PTI.

The chief minister drew PM Modi's attention to a letter of 18 December 2016 of the state government recommending the award to the former chief minister posthumously.

Hailing former Chief Minister Annadurai as "the ideological fountainhead of major Dravidian parties," K Palaniswami said the late leader stood for a "politics that foregrounded social equality, self-respect and linguistic pride."

(With inputs from PTI, ANI.)