1. Chola-inspired ‘Sengol’ to be installed in new Parliament building
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will install ‘Sengol’, a historical sceptre from Tamil Nadu, in the new Parliament building which is scheduled to be inaugurated by the PM on May 28 (Sunday), said Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday.
The ‘Sengol’ was received by independent India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, from Lord Mountbatten to symbolically represent the transfer of power from the British, as per the Chola model.
On August 14, 1947, Sri La Sri Kumaraswamy Thambiran, the deputy high priest of Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam, a five-century-old Saivaite monastry, who was flown from Madras to Delhi, handed over the five-feet long gold-plated silver sceptre to Mr. Nehru at his residence. Later, it was handed over to Mr. Nehru before his historic speech announcing the birth of the free nation from the British rule.
Expressing happiness about the announcement of Mr. Shah, the 24th and current seer of Thiruvavaduthurai Aadheenam, Sri La Sri Ambalavana Desika Paramacharya Swamigal said on the day of the inauguration of the new Parliament building, the sceptre, crafted by Vummidi Bangaru Chetty, a famous jeweller in the Madras Presidency, would be handed over to Mr. Modi as a symbolic gesture.
2. Spurious liquor deaths in Villupuram | CB-CID gets three-day custody of 11 accused persons
The Crime Branch-CID has been granted granted three days custody of 11 persons, believed to involved in the spurious liquor case in Marakkanam. Chief Judicial Magistrate M. Pushparani passed the order.
The case relates to the death of 14 persons, including 13 men and one woman, from Ekkiyarkuppam and neighbouring Marakkanam colony, who had consumed spurious liquor, earlier this month.
3. CM Stalin holds talks with Singapore Minister, CEOs
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who is on an official visit to Singapore, held a meeting with Singapore’s Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations S. Iswaran. The leaders discussed strategies to improve economic and trade relations between the two countries and over possible investments into Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Stalin invited the Singapore Minister for the Global Investors Meet (GIM) 2024 being organized by the Tamil Nadu government in Chennai in January next.
A day after AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami criticised Mr. Stalin’s official visit to Singapore and Japan, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu charged that the former CM was attempting to divert from the issue of corruption by two former AIADMK Ministers.
In a statement, Mr. Thennarasu, referring to the visits undertaken by Ministers during the AIADMK regime, asked whether their visits too were aimed at investing abroad their money obtained through corrupt means.
