R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI/GANDHINAGAR, APR 8
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the inaugural ceremony of the two-week long ‘Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam’ event on April 17 at Somnath in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district, the state government said.
Several governors, including Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Jharkhand governor CP Radhakrishnan, Nagaland governor La Ganesan, all former BJP leaders from Tamil Nadu have also been invited to attend the ten-day event, they said.
- CM reviews planning for Saurashtra-Tamil Sangamam Ek Bharat-Shrestha Bharat Mahasangam
- Saurashtra Tamil Sangam will be celebrated from April 17th to 30th at Somnath
- The plans including taking the prospective visitors from Tamil Nadu to visit the Statue of Unity, the world’s largest statue of Sardar Sahib along with Somnath-Dwarka, were finalized
- Residents of Saurashtra who are settled in Tamil Nadu will reach Somanth via special train from Madurai
- Shopping festival-traditional games will be organized in Somnath
- The overall development story of Gujarat will be presented through seminars on business industry-education-youth activity and art culture
- The event has been planned by National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, and Saurashtra University in Rajkot, and is being facilitated by the Gujarat government.
- Tamil Propagation Council in the offing
All Tamil Union Ministers, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, TN BJP chief Annamalai, BJP Women’s Wing National chief Vanathi Srinivasan, including BJP office-bearers from TN have also been invited.
Last year, the centre has organized ‘Kashi Tamil Sangamam, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
This event is an attempt to highlight and rejuvenate the centuries-old ties and cultural links between Gujarat and Tamil Nadu due to the large presence of the Saurashtra Tamil community living in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat Health Minister and government spokesperson Rushikesh Patel said in Gandhinagar.
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”The ‘Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam’ will be held between April 17 and 30 in Gujarat. Various events under this initiative will be organised across the state, including at Somnath and Dwarka of Saurashtra region. The inaugural ceremony will be held at Somnath on April 17 in the presence of PM Narendra Modi,” he said.
People belonging to the Saurashtra Tamil community, including students, youth, teachers, professionals, culture experts, others , will come to Gujarat through special trains from Tamil Nadu, Patel said, adding that starting from Tamil New Year – April 14, one special train carrying nearly 300 invited guests will depart from Madurai station of Tamil Nadu every day.
These guests and participants from Tamil Nadu will be taken to Somnath temple, Dwarkadhish temple, Shivrajpur beach in Saurashtra region and also at the ‘Statue of Unity’ in Narmada district. They will be exhibited about the state’s mechanism of infrastructure and tourism, the minister said.
According to him, during these two weeks, various seminars, competitions and other events will be organised. ”Many people from the Saurashtra region left their native place nearly a 1,000 years back and settled in Tamil Nadu. PM Modi came up with this idea of rejuvenating this centuries-old ties between the two states and help the Saurashtra Tamil community reconnect with their roots here,” Patel said.
Incidentally, in 12 wards of Madurai district, the Saurashtrian population decides the outcome of elections.
“You will experience what Modiji has done in Gujarat. During the Kashi Tamil Sangamam, people witnessed the infrastructure development of the city, the clean Ganga project, and much more. Now, too, they will witness and experience the Modi model of development,” Amar Prasad Reddy, BJP state convenor for Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat, said.
Gujarat CM reviews planning for Saurashtra-Tamil Sangamam
આગામી ૧૭ થી ૩૦ એપ્રિલે સોમનાથ તીર્થક્ષેત્રમાં યોજાનાર સૌરાષ્ટ્ર તમિલ સંગમ કાર્યક્રમના ઉપલક્ષ્યમાં ઉચ્ચસ્તરીય બેઠક યોજીને કાર્યક્રમના આયોજનની સમીક્ષા કરી. માન. પ્રધાનમંત્રીશ્રીની સંકલ્પના મુજબ ગુજરાતની ભૂમિ પર #STSangamam ‘એક ભારત-શ્રેષ્ઠ ભારત’નો મહાસંગમ બનશે તેવો મને વિશ્વાસ છે. pic.twitter.com/eLqaQrraDW
— Bhupendra Patel (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Bhupendrapbjp) April 3, 2023
To realize the aim Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel took a comprehensive review for the planning of Saurashtra Tamil Sangam in a high-level meeting held in Gandhinagar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who gave the idea of the entire planning of this Saurashtra Tamil Sangam to reveal the greatness of this historic and national unity-inducing event.
Under the direction of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, the Gujarat Government in coordination with the Central Government Ministries has made a time bound and elaborate plan to celebrate this Saurashtra Tamil Sangam as Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Maha Sangam to realize the vision of the Prime Minister.
For detailed discussion and planning of this entire planning Chief Minister held this high-level meeting in the presence of the Minister of Health Rushikesh Patel, Minister of State for Home Affairs Harsh Sanghvi and Minister of Cottage Industries Jagdish Vishwakarma, Chief Secretary Shri Raj Kumar.
The Tourism Department of the State Government is working as a nodal agency and the Cultural Activities Department and other departments are working as co-organizers in this whole programme. Shri Hareet Shukla, Tourism Secretary, elaborated the role of this Saurashtra Tamil Sangam and presented before the Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel.
A handloom and handicraft expo-shopping festival has been organized for all these pilgrims coming to Somnath, along with mass darshan of Somnath Mahadev, light and sound show demonstration. Fun and traditional games like kabaddi, kho-kho, tug of war, volleyball are also going to be held at Somnath beach.
Additional Chief Secretary of Home Department Mukesh Puri, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Pankaj Joshi and senior secretaries of departments associated with Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam program were present in this meeting.
Saurashtra Tamils’ contribution to Tamil Nadu
“Our ancestors had come to Tamil Nadu 711 years ago. We calculate this based on Ugadi festival. My community and myself will take part in Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam, which is a festival for us. We are astonished to visit our ancestral land after many centuries,” said Saurashtra Chamber of Commerce vice chairman KK Dinesh.
According to the 2011 census, over 20 lakh Saurashtrians reside in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu Government has enrolled them in the Backward Class Community.
Venkata Ramana Bagavathar, eminent siger TM Soundararajan, actress Vennira Aadai Nirmala were some of the wellknown personalities from this community.
Saurahtrian poet Sanghuram (1907-1976) has translated Thiruvalluvar’s ‘Thirukkural’ into Saurashtrian language. K Amarnath Ramakrishna, Superintending Archaeologist, who led the excavations by Archaeological Survey of India at Keezhadi is also a Saurashtrian.
Tamil Propagation Council in the offing
To propagate Tamil all over the country, the Centre is likely to set up a Tamil Propagation Council on the lines of Hindi Prachara Sabha. An announcement in this regard is likely to be expected in the STS event, sources said.
