Madras High Court orders: Karunanidhi to be buried at Marina Beach
MK Karunanidhi.
The DMK took the matter to court after the government refused to give permission for the former DMK patriarch to be buried at Marina Beach. The government said a number of cases had been filed, and were pending, against the construction of memorials on Marina Beach
The Madras High Court ordered Wednesday that former DMK patriarch Karunanidhi is to be buried at Marina Beach. Karunanidhi died Tuesday at the age of 94.
His son and political heir Stalin had written to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami asking for permission for Karunanidhi to be buried at Marina Beach near his mentor and DMK founder CN Annadurai. The government refused, saying a number of cases had been filed, and were pending, against the construction of memorials on Marina Beach.
The government instead offered the DMK a two-acre plot near Gandhi Mandapam, the memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi.
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The DMK took the case to the Madras High Court. The court began hearing the matter at 8 am this morning, at which time the cases against the construction of memorials on Marina Beach were withdrawn.
The DMK told the court that Karunanidhi could not be buried at Gandhi Mandapam, that those buried there had different ideologies.
There are currently already three memorials on Marina Beach to former Tamil Nadu chief ministers — the AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran or MGR, Annadurai, and Jayalalithaa.
A fourth memorial is the Victory War memorial.
Karunanidhi's will be the fifth.