Kannagi statue is a statue at the Marina Beach, Chennai, India. It is located at the intersection of Bharathi Salai and Kamarajar promenade. On 2 January 1968, it was erected as Kannagi holding an anklet in her hand and demanding justice.[1]
In May 2001, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader J. Jayalalithaa became chief minister of Tamil Nadu. On 21 September 2001, she resigned due to the corruption charges. In December 2001, the AIADMK government removed the Kannagi statue after a lorry damaged the pedestal of the statue and kept it in the Government Museum, Chennai.[4] While the opposition DMK alleged that the statue removed on the advice of the Jayalalithaa's astrologers as "the statue could bring misfortune to her".[1] DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, as a PWD minister who oversaw the 1968 conference, considered the removal of statue as a "a challenge to Tamil pride".[3] After Karunanidhi come to power in 2006, he re-installed the statue.[5]
