Tamil Nadu Timeline

CultureDMK-AIADMK alternation

Tamil New Year moved to the first day of Thai

· Chennai

Tamil New Year moved to the first day of Thai
Amila Tennakoon, CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

A DMK government law moved Tamil New Year to the first day of the Tamil month of Thai; the change was revoked in 2011.

Enacted on 29 January 2008, the Tamil Nadu New Year (Declaration) Bill 2008 laid down that the Tamil New Year be observed on the first day of Thai, the day of Pongal, rather than in mid-April as Puthandu. People who kept to the customary April new year objected to it. Once the AIADMK was back in office, the Assembly passed a separate act in 2011 repealing the law and bringing back the April date.

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