From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sankaralinganar
|
---|
Born
| (
1895-01-26
)
January 26, 1895
|
---|
Died
| October 13, 1956
(1956-10-13)
(aged 61)
|
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Organization
| Tamilnadu state movement
|
---|
Sankaralinganar
was an Indian Tamil independence activist and
Gandhian
from Indian union who
fasted to death
in an effort to change the name of
Madras State
to
Tamil Nadu
.
[1]
He was a
Tamil Nadu
statehood
activist.
Early life
[
edit
]
Sankaralinga Nadar was born in Manmalai Medu village near
Virudhunagar
to Karuppasamy Nadar and Valliammai in 1895. He completed his schooling at Enadhinatha Nayanar Vidyalaya in Virudhunagar. He started a
Khadi
business in Paramakudi.
[2]
In 1917, he joined
Indian National Congress
and participated in the
Indian independence movement
. Upon
C. Rajagopalachari
's request, he left his business and joined Gandhi Ashram in
Tiruchengode
.
[3]
In 1930, Sankaralinganar participated in the
Salt March
led by
Mahatma Gandhi
from
Ahmedabad
to
Dandi
. For his involvement in the
independence movement
, he was imprisoned for six months in
Trichy
(Tiruchirappalli). He accompanied Mahatma Gandhi during his visit to Virudhunagar in 1933. In 1952, Sankaralinganar donated his two houses for a girls school and deposited money to provide food to the students.
[2]
[3]
Hunger strike
[
edit
]
After independence of India in 1947,
Madras Presidency
became
Madras State
. Madras State had multilingual speakers which included
Tamil
,
Malayalam
,
Kannada
and
Telugu
speakers. In 1952,
Potti Sreeramulu
demanded a separate state for Telugu speaking people with
Madras
as its capital. He went on hunger strike with his demand, and later died during his fasts. The Government of India formed a separate state and
reorganised states in 1956
based on linguistic lines.
[4]
After reorganisation, Tamil speaking people became the majority in Madras State. Tamil activists demanded a change in the state's name. During this period, Sankaralinganar started a hunger strike on 27 July 1956 in Virudhunagar, with twelve demands which included Madras State to be renamed Tamil Nadu, the achievement of
electoral reforms
and
alcohol prohibition in India
.
[5]
Leaders like
C. N. Annadurai
,
M. P. Sivagnanam
and
Jeevanandham
requested him to stop his hunger strike but he continued. His health deteriorated and he was admitted to a hospital in
Madurai
. After 76 days of fasting, he died on 13 October 1956.
[6]
Legacy
[
edit
]
The name officially changed to Tamil Nadu on 14 January 1969 by an amendment in the
Parliament of India
.
[6]
The
Tamil Nadu Government
built a memorial dedicated to Sankaralinganar in Virudhunagar in 2015.
[7]
References
[
edit
]