Viduthalai () () is a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

published from

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, India.

History

''Viduthalai'' was first launched on 1 June 1935, by the Justice Party as a bi-weekly, published at the address 14

Mount Road Anna Salai (), named for C. N. Annadurai, formerly known as St. Thomas Mount Road or simply Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George, leading in a south-westerly direction towa ...

, Chennai and priced at 1/4

Indian anna An anna (or ānna) was a currency unit formerly used in British India, equal to of a rupee. It was subdivided into four pices or twelve pies (thus there were 192 pies in a rupee). When the rupee was decimalised and subdivided into 100 (ne ...

s.வரலாறு தவிர்க்க இயலாத நாளிதழ், உண்மை, 1-15 ஆகஸ்டு 2012
/ref> It was converted into a daily in 1937 under the charge of

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 187924 December 1973), commonly known as Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician. He was the organizer of the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam and is considered the architect o ...

who priced it at 1/2 Indian annas. Later, the paper was published from its office at the depot of another Dravidian daily named

Kudi Arasu ''Kudi Arasu'' (also pronounced as ''Kudiyarasu''; English: Republic) was a Tamil weekly magazine published by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in Madras Presidency (present-day Tamil Nadu) in India. History Periyar started ''Kudi Arasu'' on 2 May 19 ...

Erode Erode (; īrōṭu), is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Kaveri river and is surrounded by the Western Ghats. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in Tamil Nadu. It is the administrativ ...

. Later, the office was shifted to Balakrishna Pillai Street in

Chintadripet Chintadripet (originally Chinna Thari Pettai) is a locality in Chennai, in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by ...

, Chennai. From November 1965 onwards, ''Viduthalai'' started to be published from

Vepery Vepery is a neighbourhood in the north of Chennai, India. Abutting the transportation hub of Park Town, Chennai, Park Town, the neighbourhood covers a rectangular area north of the Poonamallee High Road. History Vepery is among those oldest nei ...

, Chennai. ''Viduthalai'' also served as testing ground for Periyar's Tamil alphabet reform. During Veeramani's tenure, new formats were developed to reduce the number of letters in the உ and ஊ vowel family. These reforms were published as a separate column in the newspaper. ''Viduthalai'' was one of the few newspapers that faced the consequences of the 1975-77 Emergency in India. It also pressed for the implementation of the 27% reservation quota as recommended by

Mandal Commission The Mandal Commission or the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), was established in India in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educatio ...

. Following the breakout of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 1983, ''Viduthalai'' advocated for the rights of Eelam Tamils who began to arrive in Tamil Nadu as refugees, while also exposing the violence perpetrated against those in Sri Lanka. The office of ''Viduthalai'' was also frequented by Tamil militants. The office enabled processions, conferences, and other pro-

Eelam Eelam (, ''īḻam'', , also spelled Eezham, Ilam or Izham in English) is the native Tamil name for the South Asian island now known as Sri Lanka. Eelam is also the Tamil name for the spurge (a plant), toddy (an intoxicant) and gold. (Onli ...

activities. Following the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, ''Viduthalai'' has shown a strong stance against Hindutva politics.

Anniversary

The 85th anniversary of the newspaper was held at

Periyar Thidal Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 187924 December 1973), commonly known as Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician. He was the organizer of the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam and is considered the architect of ...

in Chennai on 3 June 2019. Speaking at the event,

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

(CPI) senior leader

D. Pandian David Pandian (18 May 1932 – 26 February 2021) was an Indian Tamil politician who served as Member of Parliament elected from Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Lok Sabha as an Indian National CongressUnited Communist Party of India (UCPI) ...

praised the daily's contribution in spreading the ideology of Periyar. He also requested the party to release a book on Periyar like ''Knowing Mandela''. K Veeramani released a special issue marking the 85th year of the daily.‘விடுதலை’ ஏட்டின் 85 ஆம் ஆண்டு விழா, தீக்கதிர், 4 ஜூன் 2019
/ref>

Editors

T. A. V. Nathan (1 June 1935 - 31 December 1936) Pt. S. Muthusamy Pillai (1 January 1937- ?) A. Ponnambalanar (9 January 1939-?) N. Karivaradhasamy K.A. Mani aka. Annai E. V. R. Maniammai K. Veeramani (21 March 1978 – present)

Editors-in-Chief

C. N. Annadurai Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 19093 February 1969), also known as Perarignar, was an Indian politician who was the founder and first general-secretary of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He served as the fourth and last chi ...

(1939- 21 December 1941)

Kuthoosi Gurusamy Saminathan Gurusamy (23 April 1906 – 11 October 1965), commonly known as ''Kuthoosi Gurusamy'', was an Indian writer and journalist closely associated with the Self-Respect Movement led by Periyar E.V. Ramasamy. Life Gurusamy was born on 23 A ...

(20 June /12 September 1943 - 30 September 1945/ 2 January 1962) Sami Chidambaranar K. Veeramani Kali Poongundran

References

External links

Viduthalai WebsiteViduthalai FacebookViduthalai TwitterWorld Orgs
{{Tamil-language media Tamil-language newspapers published in India Newspapers established in 1935