PMK leader S. Ramadoss on Tuesday made a strong case for buying and converting into a memorial the house of U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer in Tiruvatteeswaranpet where the grand old man of Tamil lived for over four decades.
Heed request
In statement here, he said if the State government had heeded the request of Tamil scholars, the house of Swaminatha Iyer would not have been demolished to pave the way for a multi-storied building.
Rejecting the argument that Swamintha Iyer’s house in Uttamathanapuram, his birthplace, had been made a memorial, Dr. Ramadoss said one must keep in mind that the government had constructed a manimandapam for Subramania Bharathi in Ettaiyapuram and also converted his house in Triplicane into a memorial. He also pointed out to the decision of the Maharashtra government to buy the London house of B.R. Ambedkar at a cost of Rs. 35 crore following a request from the people of the State.
“Swaminatha Iyer’s 160{+t}{+h}birth anniversary falls on February 19. Let the government buy the house and lay the foundation stone for a memorial on that day,” he said.
