Karunanidhi takes dig at Jayalalithaa over cartoon issue

DMK President M Karunanidhi on Thursday took a dig at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for demanding removal of a controversial cartoon in NCERT books allegedly depicting the anti-Hindi agitation in bad light, saying she woke up suddenly after all political leaders in the state took up the issue and staged agitation.

Chiding her for her statement that the publishing of the cartoon amounted to demeaning the movement and the leaders such as CN Annadurai and EV Ramasamy, he said she was "busy with film shooting" in 1965 when the agitation was on in full swing.

"It doesnt matter if Jayalalithaa issued a statement or not. The overall demand is that a cartoon that has hurt the sentiments of Tamils should not continue in the textbooks. So Centre should not make any further delay and intervene to take steps for removing the cartoon," he said writing in party mouthpiece Murasoli.

Karunanidhi, a key UPA ally, had last week raised the issue and urged the Centre to take steps for removal of the cartoon.