ProtestMadras State (Congress era)
Kallakudi agitation against the name Dalmiapuram
The DMK protested at Kallakudi against the renaming of the town as Dalmiapuram after an industrialist.
On 15 July 1953 the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam organised a demonstration at Kallakudi in Tiruchirappalli district against the town being renamed Dalmiapuram after the industrialist Ramakrishna Dalmia, who had set up a cement factory there. Protesters blocked goods trains, and the police opened fire on the demonstrators. M. Karunanidhi and four others were arrested and later sentenced to five months in prison. It was the first notable agitation led by Karunanidhi and became a defining moment in the DMK's assertion of Tamil identity.
