The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> To fix Jaya CM robs Fort St George of its splendour

The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> To fix Jaya CM robs Fort St George of its splendour

The grandeur of the historic Fort St George which housed the Tamil Nadu Assembly for decades has been stripped, just to spite a rival.

Having made a huge structure, shorn of any traditional Dravidian artistry, to house the Legislative Assembly of the State, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M Karunanidhi wanted to initially preserve the old pad as a museum — a testimony to Tamil Nadu’s history. History was so much in his heart that he even got replicas of the Speaker’s and other chairs made for the new Assembly, while preserving the old rosewood and green set-up with huge decorative chandeliers, lamps, etc.

However, earlier this month, Leader of the Oppo-sition and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa criticised the look of the new Assembly-cum-Secretariat complex and announced that when her party returned to power, the Assembly would be shifted right back to its old moorings in the Fort St George. No sooner did she mention that than Karunanidhi announced that the old Assembly would be turned into a library. Then what happened to his idea to preserve a valuable heritage?

At the recently held World Classical Tamil Conference in Coimbatore, Karunanidhi, driven by emotions, announced that the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) would be shifted to the hallowed hall at the Fort St George even before the conference ended and that his office chamber would become the office of the institute head.