Chennai: The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court today said it cannot issue a stay order on using the term ‘ondriya arasu’ (Union) instead of ‘mathiya arasu’ (Centre) to refer to the Union government.
When a plea in this regard came up for hearing, the court said it cannot issue an order to the Chief Minister and other Ministers that they should only call the Union government as ‘mathiya arasu’.
It may be recalled that Chief Minister M K told the Assembly last week that using the word ‘Ondriyam’ to refer to the Central government was not a social crime and no one needs to be rattled by it.
Stalin’s assertion that his government would continue to use ‘Union’ had revived the debate on state autonomy and federalism.
Stalin’s clarification came after BJP members objected to it. “The single word (Union) has capsulised the philosophy of federalism. So, we are using it and we will continue to use it,” he said.