Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin announces life size statue for VP Singh in Chennai

Chennai: On Thursday, during a session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced that a statue of former Prime Minister V.P. Singh will be erected in Chennai as a token of gratitude from the Tamil society for his contributions towards social justice; the formation of the Cauvery Water Tribunal; and naming of the Chennai international airport terminal in Chennai after late leader C.N. Annadurai (DMK) and domestic airport terminal after veteran Congress leader K Kamaraj.

The Chief Minister highlighted Singh's implementation of the 27% reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in central government jobs based on the recommendations of B.P. Mandal, the Chairman of the Second Backward Classes Commission. He noted that while the Constitution provided reservations for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST), the Backward Classes were not given commensurate reservations with their population.

Stalin narrates incident involving Singh

Despite not being a member of the Backward Classes or having come from a poor family, Singh implemented reservations for the OBCs. Stalin recalled an incident where Singh was informed by a minister who belonged to the forward community that it could not be implemented, but Singh announced the date for its implementation majestically.

According to Stalin, the late Singh considered Tamil Nadu a state of his blood relations and accepted Dravidar Kazhagam founder E V Ramasamy as his leader. He believed that humiliation was worse than death and argued that self-respect was the medicine that cures humiliation. Singh treated M. Karunanidhi, the former CM, as his brother.