In Dravidian heartland, Stalin unveils Karl Marx statue in Chennai

Chennai, Feb 6: At a time when the Left is fighting back to the wall for electoral relevance across the country, the DMK government brought alive the father of communism, Karl Marx, by installing a life size statue of the late philosopher at the sprawling Connemara Public Library – State Museum campus in the heart of Chennai, on Friday.
The statue was unveiled by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin.
Apart from top DMK leaders and Ministers, Leaders of the alliance parties of the DMK including those from Congress, MDMK, VCK and the two Left Parties took part in the event.
After unveiling the statue, Mr Stalin walked through an photo expo depicting the life history of Karl Marx at the venue and also witnessed a short documentary on him telecast on the occasion.
Like his father, the late DMK Patriarch and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Stalin too claims that the Dravidian ideology is akin to the Communist ideology and that is why half of the DMK flag is red.
In September last, Mr Stalin paid tributes to Marx, by visiting his memorial at the Highgate cemetery, during his visit to London to scout for foreign investments. He also visited the Ambedkar memorial on the occasion.
“Both Dravidian ideology and Communist ideology stand against casteism, class division, authoritarianism and all forms of oppression. The comradeship will defeat fascism, communalism, authoritarianism and dictatorship. Those who tried to divide and destroyed us have now collapsed…Despite minor differences, both Dravidianism and Communism stand for everything for everyone. I want to emphasise that ideologies of black, red and blue must stand together,” he had said, while addressing the 100th foundation day celebration of the CPI, at Chennai a couple of days back.
The demand for a statue for the German philosopher was first mooted a few years ago by independent Marxists, including writer A Marx, a retired college professor.
A committee was also formed to take the idea forward. Initially, it was suggested that the statue should be at the Marina seafront or at Nandanam. But, Marx had expressed great satisfaction at the new venue, the more than a century-old British era Connemara library campus.
The library in the Egmore area of the city, built in 1890, was opened to the public in 1896. Now, it has Marx added to it.