Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s resolution mandating the rendition of Tamil Thaai Vazhthu at the commencement of government events was unanimously passed by the state Assembly on Monday.
Political Context
The resolution seeks to make the singing of Tamil Thaai Vazhthu, Tamil Nadu’s state song, mandatory at state functions. Under the resolution, Tamil Thaai Vazhthu will be sung at the commencement of programmes held at educational institutions, universities, government offices and public sector undertakings across Tamil Nadu. It was subsequently made compulsory to render it first in the sequence of songs played at official functions. The meeting explored the possibilities of delimitation’s impact on Tamil Nadu as the Centre might conduct a special session in the Parliament on delimitation. “It saddened me that the DMK, AIADMK, PMK, DMDK did not participate in the meeting of the Tamil Nadu Members of Parliament convened by the chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
It can be recalled that an order was issued by the Tamil Nadu government on November 23, 1970, which required Tamil Thaai Vazhthu to be sung at the beginning of official events. The state government formally recognised Tamil Thaai Vazhthu as the state song on December 12, 2021. The Tamil Nadu Government, headed by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay on Monday (August 10, 2026) sought an early hearing of its application over the Cauvery water allocation dispute with neighbouring Karnataka. The State Government sought a judicial direction to Karnataka to implement a Central Water Management Authority (CWMA) decision of July 30 to ensure the release of 3500 cusecs for 15 days from its two reservoirs at Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagara. The State said they had reviewed the hydrometeorological condition in the Cauvery basin on July 30 and endorsed the July 28 recommendations of the Cauvery “Even if Karnataka ensured flows of 3500 cusecs for 15 days, it would get only 4.536 TMC leaving a backlog of 5.379 TMC even as per the pro rata assessment of distress as on July 28… 28.07.2026. If the inflows into the 4 major reservoirs of Karnataka against 30 years average up to August 3, 2026 is considered, the pro-rata ratio works out to 46.34%. Based on this pro-rata ratio, the flows due from June 1, 2026 to August 12, 2026 works out to 26.95 TMC. The direction given by the CWRC and CWMA is only 4.536 TMC, which is far less than the quantum of water as per distress proportion,” the Tamil Nadu application has said.
Moving the resolution, Vijay said his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam government would not compromise on Tamil Nadu’s linguistic and cultural rights. “Tamil is not only a language but also our life and emotions,” Vijay said in an emotive speech, stressing that the “mother tongue is as pure as one’s mother. Vijay also said that the mother tongue was “as pure as our mother” and giving it the first place was a matter of state rights. The move comes against the backdrop of a fresh advisory from the Union Home Affairs Ministry asking states and Union Territories to “strictly comply” with its January 28 directive to play the National Song Vande Mataram before the National Anthem at official events. Various parties including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), boycotted the meeting called by the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Saturday, dismissing it as “unnecessary”. In April, former Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin burnt a copy of the delimitation Bill and described it as a ”black law” that would make Tamil people refugees on their own land. The Tamil Nadu government said Karnataka had continued to defy the orders of the Cauvery Tribunal for allocation of water to its neighbour except a few times when there were inevitable surpluses in the reservoirs on account of floods.
Senior Congress leader and former Union home minister P Chidambaram on Sunday said Tamil Nadu lost an opportunity to announce to the world that there is a consensus regarding delimitation, referring to the absence of the opposition parties in the meeting of state MPs called by chief minister C Joseph Vijay. We lost an opportunity to announce to the world that there is a consensus in Tamil Nadu regarding delimitation,” P Chidambaram said in a social media post on Sunday.
