Today, 14 April 2026, is Tamil New Year, Puthandu, a special day for Tamilians. It is even an official government holiday declared by the Tamil Nadu government itself.
TN has an official govt holiday for Tamil New Years day today, but none of our leaders in the government – CM, ministers or MLAs will wish us on our New Year today. They wished promptly for Ugadi and will wish for Vishu tomorrow.
If you care about your culture, vote properly. pic.twitter.com/mmfe8hO21o
— Tamil Labs 2.0 (@labstamil) April 14, 2026
Every government office is shut. Tamil families across the state are drawing kolam, cooking delicious feasts, and welcoming the new year. But Chief Minister MK Stalin has not issued a single public wish for Puthandu as of this morning.
Stalin Wishes For Ugadi
On 19 March 2026, Stalin posted in Telugu on X: “Happy Ugadi to all our Dravidian brothers and sisters who speak Telugu and Kannada! Let us #overcome_together with our unity all the attacks that the BJP government is launching against us, such as language oppression, cultural invasion, discrimination in financial allocation, and the impact of constituency redelineation! May this Ugadi pave the way for a new upsurge! May #DravidianModel 2.0 be established!”
He did this in 2025 as well.
I wish a joyful #Ugadi to all my Telugu and Kannada speaking Dravidian sisters and brothers as you welcome the New Year with hope and celebration.
In the face of growing linguistic and political threats like #HindiImposition and #Delimitation, the need for southern unity has… pic.twitter.com/a1AGVvEjbl
— M.K.Stalin – தமிழ்நாட்டை தலைகுனிய விடமாட்டேன் (@mkstalin) March 30, 2025
The DMK has long created a non-existent internal ideological dispute over April 14. A section of the Dravidian movement, going back to Periyar, prefers January 14 (Pongal) as the Tamil New Year, viewing April 14 as linked to the Brahminical solar calendar. As recently as 2022, DMK’s Pongal gift bags avoided the phrase “Tamil New Year” entirely. April 14 remains on the government holiday list due to public pressure, not political conviction.
The Tamil Nadu government declares Tamil New Year a public holiday for administrative purposes, but its Chief Minister cannot post a single wish to mark it. Telugu communities got a message in their own language, is it because MK Stalin himself comes from a Telugu background? Tamils, on their own official holiday, in their own state, get silence.
Taking the Tamil voter for granted has never been more visible than it is today.
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