E. V. Velu

Ethirajulu Vajjaravelu or E. V. Velu (born 15 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the Minister of Public Works, Highways and Minor Ports in the M. K. Stalin ministry of the state of Tamil Nadu since 2021. He formerly served as the Minister for Food in the state under M. Karunanidhi (2006–2011).

Velu has been elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party candidate from Thandarambattu constituency, in 1984. In 1997, he joined DMK (at a time when the MGR Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam split from the AIADMK to ally with the BJP) and got elected from the same constituency in 2001 and 2006. He was subsequently elected twice from Tiruvannamalai constituency as a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate in 2011 and 2016 and 2021.

Background
Velu was born in the Se. Gudalore village (covered by the Thandarambattu constituency) in Tiruvannamalai district in a Telugu Balija family on 15 March 1951. He holds a masters degree in history from Annamalai University. Velu started out as a pump repairman but later joined a bus company in the Tiruvannamalai district as a bus conductor. An admirer of M. G. Ramachandran, he became an AIADMK member on its inception, becoming its deputy organizer for Thandarambattu.

He was involved in film distribution along with politics and acted in a couple of films like Thilakam.

"India" comment
After the DMK joined the I.N.D.I.A political alliance, Velu gave a speech regarding the word "India", and was questioned the impact the word had on the people of Tamil Nadu.

Translation of speech: "“What is the state today? The word India never had any impact on us. When has India had an impact on us? I’m making an open statement. There wasn’t any such impact on us. I'm talking about some time ago. Where did we have an impact? There was no impact. India is someplace in North India. We belong to Tamil Nadu. If possible, we have to create a Dravida Nadu. Our thought processwas going in that direction.”"

Velu later said the BJP had misquoted his statements, after the party raised objections against the speech in the Lok Sabha. He clarified that he was only talking about how some people in the state had perceived the word in the past, "I was explaining what the situation was earlier and what the situation is now. I mentioned that once upon we did not have impactful feelings towards “India” - but that was once upon a time," he said. Further adding that the current DMK Dravidian ideology has the responsibility to protect India and M. K. Stalin plays a crucial role in it.