Chennai, Jan 13 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday requested his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan to declare January 14 as a local holiday for the Pongal festival for Tamils in Kerala instead of January 15.
In a letter to Vijayan, Stalin said he was told that during the past 12 years, the Kerala government has been declaring January 14 as a local holiday for the Pongal festival in six districts, which is also the first day of Tamil month Thai. But this year, January 15 has been proposed to be a local holiday in these six districts.
He requested the Kerala government to declare January 14 as a local holiday in six districts where a large number of Tamil speaking people live.
"I request you to continue the practice of declaring January 14 as the local holiday for Pongal Festival as it is being celebrated on that particular date all over the world amongst the Tamil communities," Stalin said.