Chennai, April 5 (BPNS)

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin has called for Samathuvapuram or equality villages across the country to do away with caste and religious feelings among the people. He said that it was the late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Kalignar M. Karunanidhi who had mooted the idea of Samathuvapuram in the state in 1997 but the successive AIADMK governments had foiled the scheme.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister was speaking after inaugurating the Periyar Samathuvapuram at Kozhuvari in Villupuram district.

He said that the Samathuvapuram concept was designed for an egalitarian society and was a Dravidian model and said that DMK patriarch, M. Karunanidhi had planned to establish 298 Samathuvapuram’s across the state.

Stalin said that he was inaugurating Samathuvapuram in Villupuram district to bring back the idea of egalitarian society as the son of Kalaignar Karunanidhi.

He said that the state of Tamil Nadu remained in a dark period during the past ten years of AIADMK rule and the neglect of Samathuvapuram is a clear indicator of that.

The Chief Minister said that other schemes like the Anna Marumalarchi Thittam and Namukku Naane Thittam conceived and implemented by the previous DMK government were also shelved by the AIADMK government and the present government is for reviving that.

He said that Tamil Nadu government was committed to equal development and equal opportunities for all.