The Tamil New Year is back in April, the first month of the Tamil solar calender called `Chithirai’. This follows Tamilnadu chief minister J Jayalalaithaa reversing the decision by her predecessor M Karunanidhi who had changed the Tamil New Year to mid-January, coinciding with Pongal, the harvest festival during the Tamil month of `Thai’.

Jaya had accused the previous DMK government of not taking into account the “sentiments and opinion” of the people while effecting the change in 2008. The DMK regime’s decision was “useless” and one that “hurt” the sentiments of the people, she said in August last year.

In fact, even when the DMK government had made the change four years ago, Jaya had refused to fall in line and had greeted the people only in April.