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Ministers S. Muthusamy, Senji K. Masthan, T. Mano Thangaraj and M. P. Saminathan, District Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati, Director of The Hindu Group N. Ram, and Kumaraguru Institutions Chairman B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar at the photo exhibition organised to mark the centenary celebrations of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: PERIASAMY M
While freedom of expression is in peril in India, Tamil Nadu is an exception, said N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited, in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
Citing the prosecution of the Newsclick founder under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Mr. Ram said that democracy and secularism were under threat in the Modi regime.
Taking part in the inaugural session of a photography exhibition titled ‘Ithazhalar (journalist) Kalaignar’ organised by the Department of Public Relations at the VOC Ground, as part of the Muthamizh Arignar Kalaignar Centenary celebration, Mr. Ram reminisced that the late CM was amiable to the journalistic fraternity always. As a former journalist, Kalaignar Karunanidhi fostered freedom of expression, and used to take decisions factoring in the perspectives of criticism, he said, adding that present Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was treading the path of Karunanidhi, and needs to be supported.
Describing the late Chief Minister as a prolific writer with a firm conviction on State autonomy, Mr. Ram said the hallmark of Karunanidhi was writing with the thought flow, recalling novelist R.K. Narayan’s observation about the late leader. A Chief Minister for five terms, the uniqueness of Karunanidhi was that he had not been defeated even once in 13 times in his legislative career. No other leader had written as many articles, poems and interviews as Karunanidhi, Mr. Ram said, advocating conduct of the photography exhibition in other major centres in the State.
Inaugurating the exhibition, P.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Coimbatore, described the late Chief Minister as an engimatic multi-tasker, and that he was able to relate with the times of Kalaignar, and the impact he made on national politics, by witnessing the exhibition. Kalaignar Karunanidhi ought to be viewed as a personality transcending politics, he said.
Senior journalists of other leading publications were also honoured on the occasion.
M.P. Saminathan, Minister for Tamil Development, Information and Publicity, and Chairman, Ithazhalar Kalaignar Centenary Celebration Committee, said more such significant events have been lined up at the Hindustan Group of Institutions, Coimbatore, on October 21.
State Ministers S. Muthusamy (Housing and Urban Development), Gingee K.S. Masthan( Minorities Welfare and Non Resident Tamils Welfare), Mano Thangaraj (Milk and Dairy Development), and Coimbatore Lok Sabha MP P.R. Natarajan also took part.
District Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati welcomed the gathering.
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