"There is nothing wrong with caste being behind the names of leaders because it is good for historical identity," said
tamilisai Saundarajan,
governor of
telangana and Pondicherry. She was speaking at the 150th birth anniversary of V.O.C in Thoothukudi and she said, "Even those who do not know where VOC's
house is, where the shipping company he ran are, are now searching and paying homage.
If we forget the freedom fighters there is no forgiveness for them and during the 75th Independence Day, the
youth should visit the places where 75 freedom fighters lived and they deserve to know their struggles. VOC started the shipping company in order to give the
british a commercial crisis. Thus the
british operated the ship free of charge and it was because of that freedom that VOC fell. Similarly, Thoothukudi has brought down many good
people with freebies.
Martyrs and their dependents must be sought and celebrated while they are still alive. There is no caste among the achievers and there are no achievers by caste. It is good for the historical identity that the caste is associated with the name of the leaders. Vande Mataram is a magic word, but there is reluctance in
tamil Nadu to pronounce the word. It is written as
government Library in the library located in the VOC
home in the auditorium and the
women of the area told me that the
government should rename it as VOC library and I request DMK
government to consider this."