What’s the matter with Madras? And what is right with Tamil Nadu? Madras has carried on with the name for a few centuries and is none the worse for it.
Tamil Nadu was a part of Madras when it was a Presidency and if the part has now inherited the name of the whole, it is a matter to be proud of. But apparently there are politicians in the southern State who think that Madras will look and feel better with a change in nomenclature.
Even the Government, we have been informed, is not averse to the suggested change. Actually, there is nothing wrong in the State being renamed Tamil Nadu if the people of the State feel that they will be happier with that name. But the hysteria with which the demand is being canvassed by the opposition parties in the State is totally out of proportion to the intrinsic merit of the proposed reform. Madras, called by any other name, will not be less poor or filthy or hungry than it now is.
The best thing would be to carry on with the present name and for the legislators and others to devote their attention to more purposeful things like food, housing and medical aid rather than fritter their energies in cheap stunts like walk-outs and slogan-shouting. We have had enough stress made on the exclusive character of each linguistic group and have now arrived at a stage when we are in some danger of stressing this a little too much.
The truth of the matter is that a few disgruntled individuals are always looking for a controversy and are always in need of something new to keep themselves in the limelight. Their need, they believe, is greater than the State’s.
What is regrettable is that political parties who ought to know better often play into the hands of these plastic galahads. There is still time for the Madras politicians to regain their sobriety.
February 2, 1961
