"I am Using Wheel Chair Due to my Back Surgery - Karunanidhi

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanadhi has said that he was in good health and he is using the wheel chair because of the surgery on his back.

"Otherwise, I have no other ailments. I am in good health", Karunanidhi said in a function.

Last night, at a function organized to release the second edition of ‘Thoughts of Periyar,' a collection of Periyar E.V. Ramasamy's speeches and writings.

The Chief Minister talked about his health after V. Anaimuthu, Chairman and Managing Director of Periyar E.V.Ramasamy-Nagammai Education and Research Trust, tried to explain to Mr. Karunanidhi loudly what he had spoken earlier into the microphone.

“I could hear what you said earlier,” Mr. Karunanidhi said, evoking laughter from those who were on the dais and in the audience.

Mr. Karunanidhi, who released the first edition in 1974, said society had no other option but to follow Periyar.

“He was not an individual. He is a movement and an epoch. His ideas alone will help Tamils and Dravidians to identify themselves and unify them.”

Mr. Karunanidhi said Periyar's ideas were no longer confined to Tamil Nadu and had a worldwide appeal.

Mr. Anaimuthu, besides asking the Chief Minister to make arrangements to buy the collection (20 volumes) for schools, colleges, libraries and universities, wanted the life histories of the leaders of the Dravidian Movement to be included in the curriculum as an ancillary subject.

Former Vice-Chancellor of Madras University Porko and Vice-Chairman of the State Planning Commission M. Naganathan were among those who spoke.

Mr Karunanidhi, later left for Chepauk Stadium to watch the Premier League cricket match.

- Asian Tribune -