- CM Vijay challenged DMK on national anthem protocol precedence.
- He cited assembly records showing national anthem played first.
- Vijay accused DMK of hypocrisy over anthem sequence criticism.
- Records confirmed anthem played first during DMK’s own tenure.
Chennai, Jun 23 (PTI) Citing Tamil Nadu Assembly records, indicating that National Anthem took precedence over ‘Tamil Thaai Vazhthu’, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Tuesday challenged the opposition DMK’s stance on rendering National Anthem before the state anthem was played at government events.
Flaying the DMK’s hypocrisy over the National Anthem played at his swearing-in as Chief Minister, officiated by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar in May, and played twice – at the commencement and also conclusion of the Governor’s address to the Assembly on June 18 – and that Tamil Thaai Vazhthu was not accorded the first spot in the sequence, Vijay accused the DMK of “double standards”.
Specifically citing an instance on August 2, 2021, during the centenary celebrations of the Tamil Nadu Legislature, where the late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s portrait was unveiled by then President of India, the Chief Minister said during that event the official protocol followed was to play the National Anthem followed by the Tamil Thaai Vazhthu.
He emphasised that the opposition DMK’s current criticism was “hypocritical”, as the practice of playing the National Anthem twice or placing the state song second occurred during their own regime.
“This has been documented in the official Assembly records,” Vijay said displaying it to the House, as evidence to support his claims, putting to rest the controversy surrounding the Tamil Thaai Vazhthu row.
At that event mentioned by Vijay, the National Anthem was played a second time towards the end of the function. PTI JSP JSP ROH
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
