Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin (file photo)
Chennai: Following Kerala, Tamil Nadu has decided to drop the usage of ‘colony’ from official documents general usage. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced that the state government is going to take steps to remove the usage, specifically using it to describe settlements inhabited by Dalits. Stalin said that the term has become a symbol of historical oppression and caste-based discrimination, India Today reported.
He told the state assembly on Tuesday that the word ‘colony’ has become a synonym to insult the ancient people of Tamil Nadu as the word has turned into a symbol of oppression, a code of untouchability and insult.
“….action will be taken to remove this word from government documents and general usage,” India Today quoted the minister.
Kerala had issued a similar order in June 2024. K Radhakrishnan, a former state minister for the welfare of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and backward classes, issued the order on the final day as minister before he was elected to Lok Sabha. His order abolished the use of the term ‘colony’ in official records, describing settlements of SC/ST communities. He had said then that the term was coined by oppressors and derived its meaning from the word ‘slavery’.
In another news, Tamil Nadu Ministers V Senthil Balaji and K Ponmudy resigned from Tamil Nadu cabinet. Raj Bhavan announced on Sunday that the governor had accepted the resignations of respective ministers. Senthil Balaji, facing an ED probe, had been asked by the Supreme Court on Wednesday to make a choice "between post and freedom" as it warned him of cancelling bail if he did not step down as minister Ponmudy had courted a major controversy over his Shaivite-Vaishnavite remarks made in the context of a sex worker, drawing widespread criticism, even as the Madras High Court later initiated proceedings on its own on the matter. Though he had been removed from a key party post, there were demands from opposition parties and other quarters for his ouster from the cabinet.