The 44th Chess Olympiad held near Mahabalipuram, Chennai came to an end with a grand finale held on August 9, 2022.
The event saw Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin presiding over as the chief guest along with FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich and recently elected deputy president and former World champion Viswanathan Anand. Senior ministers of the DMK government and MK Stalin’s family including Stalin’s wife Durga Stalin, Stalin’s son and DMK MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin, Stalin’s son-in-law Sabarisan, Stalin’s daughter-in-law Kirthika Udhayanidhi too attended the event.
As part of the grand finale ceremony, the Tamil Nadu government had organized a special show about Tamil Nadu’s contribution in the Indian National Movement.
The show titled ‘Tamil Mann Part 2’ featured slices from the lives of several nationalist freedom fighters of Tamil Nadu like Puli Thevar, Velu Nachiyar, Kuyili, Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Marudhu Brothers, V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, Subramania Bharathi, Tirupur Kumaran and G. Subramanian.
The historic moment of Mahatma Gandhi sheding his western attire and wearing a simple dhoti that happened in Madurai was also shown.
However in a blatant distortion of history, the DMK government subtly introduced its ideologue E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (EVR) in this performance showcasing the contribution of freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu.
EVR, known as ‘Periyar’ by his followers, was a rabid anti-Hindu bigot known for his pro-British stance when the Indian Freedom Struggle was its peak. He pleaded with the British to not leave India and pledged allegiance to them asking the Madras Presidency to be ruled from London. He even went to the extent of demanding a separate Dravida Naadu and had met Mohammad Ali Jinnah regarding the same.
What was otherwise a stellar performance, ended up as a subtle Dravidian propaganda with the mention of Annadurai, Karunanidhi, MGR and Jayalalithaa.
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