Samjha? DMK video mocks defence minister in Hindi

CHENNAI: Taking a dig at the defence ministry’s expert panel, which rejected Tamil Nadu’s tableau for the 75th Republic Day parade, the DMK women’s wing has come up with a video on freedom fighter V O Chidambaram with a narration in English with Hindi subtitles for “broader reach and better understanding”.
The 2.40-minute-long video on V O C, popularly known as ‘Kappalottiya Tamizhan’, ends with a punchline “Samjha? Samajh lena!” (Understand?) to send across a loud and clear message, particularly directed at the expert panel formed by the defence ministry and the Union government, for excluding the tableau.
The video includes a disclaimer that says it was “created solely to highlight the significance of Tamil leaders, in English, with Hindi subtitles for broader reach and better understanding”. It begins with the narrator asking, “Are you really not aware who V O C is?”
Listing out the freedom fighters, who hailed from Tamil Nadu, starting with Veerapandiya Kattabomman in the 1790s, the video details the contribution of V O C to the nation’s freedom struggle and how he was considered “the most dangerous of all freedom fighters” by the Britishers during his time.
“We want to tell people who are not aware about the greatness of V O C. We will soon come up with similar videos on Veeramangai Velunachiyar, the first queen to fight the Britishers, and other freedom fighters,” DMK women wing secretary and Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi told TOI. She tweeted the video with the women wing logo and the tagline ‘The name is V.O. Chidambaranar’. It was widely shared on twitter and other social media.

“The video uses Hindi subtitles to carry forward a crystal clear message that the experts had been unaware or lacked knowledge about significant freedom fighters like V O C and woman warrior Velunachiyar. It will hit them hard and expose their ignorance,” said a functionary of the wing, seeking anonymity.