Memorial plan for five icons on Chennai's University Union Grounds draws flak

The Tamil Nadu government's proposal to build an integrated memorial complex for five icons on a portion of the University Union Grounds in Chetpet, Chennai, has run into opposition from university faculty, staff and physical education teachers.

The complex is to come up on land belonging to the University of Madras, with a library alongside. The five figures named in the plan — Queen Velu Nachiyar, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, B.R. Ambedkar, K. Kamaraj and Anjalai Ammal — are regarded as ideological leaders of the ruling party.

According to sources, the Chennai Collector wrote to the university on September 17 seeking its consent for the memorial and library on part of the grounds. Officials from the Egmore Tahsildar's office are said to have visited the site recently and measured the plot.

The letter noted that Minister Rajmohan had announced the memorial during the recent Budget session of the Assembly, with an allocation of ₹5 crore. The university land was subsequently identified for the construction.

Chennai already has large memorials to Ambedkar on Greenways Road, Periyar at Vepery and Kamaraj on Sardar Patel Road.

University sources said the proposed spot lies on the northeastern edge of the ground, a parcel that housed a tennis court until about three decades ago. The court was damaged by water stagnation and removed, after which cricket nets were installed for students. Those too were damaged, and the area was later cleared and used for handball practice. The exact dimensions of the parcel were not immediately available.

The ground on Spur Tank Road is used not only by sportspersons from the university and its affiliated colleges but also by other educational institutions for sports meets and training.

A physical education director of an affiliated college said the worry was that once the complex is built, an access pathway to the memorial would have to be laid through the ground, eating into the space used by athletes. A section of Physical Education Directors met on Tuesday to discuss the matter and opposed the proposal, arguing that the memorial could be built elsewhere on government land in the city instead of on university property.

Teaching staff said the priority should be to develop facilities at the grounds rather than construct memorials. They also cautioned that the university should not decide on handing over the plot without wider discussion, not only within its Syndicate and Senate but also with other stakeholders.

The venue has in the past hosted the Buchi Babu Memorial Cricket Tournament, the A.L. Mudaliar Athletics meet and international matches featuring the women's cricket team. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association still conducts its lower-division league matches there.

A physical education director of a leading college said the Union Ground is common to all affiliated colleges, which hold their annual sports meets there, along with zonal meets and inter-university tournaments. Football teams from several colleges train at the ground, all free of cost. The director added that there were also concerns that around 10 to 15 trees could be cut and that vultures that regularly visit the area would lose their habitat.