DMK, The Hindu criticised for publishing full-page ad on MK Stalin with grammatical errors

It is important to note that the content for the ad was provided by the advertiser and advertisements fall outside the editorial jurisdiction of newspapers.

Ankita Sengupta

May 08, 2025 / 22:16 IST

The jacket ad published in the Chennai city edition of The Hindu. (Image credit: @Isriramseshadri)

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin completed four years in power, and to celebrate the feat, his party, DMK, published a full-page jacket ad in The Hindu, possibly the most-read English daily in the state. The move, however, yielded a different result after readers pointed out glaring grammatical mistakes in the proclamation.

A reader even shared a picture of the ad on X but blamed the publication for the error. It read: "Four years of appreciated governance! Let it continues for many years !! Four years achievement of Dravidian model government under the visionary leadership of Hon'able Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Thiru M.K. Stalin."

"Shri Kasturi Iyengar must be turning in his grave," wrote X user SS Iyengar (@Isriramseshadri). "Many people learnt English writing skills by reading The Hindu in the past. 'Appreciated' should have been 'Appreciable'. 'Let It Continues' should have been 'Let it Continue'. Dravida model DIPR needs language specialists," the businessman wrote, referring to the Indian independence activist, politician and journalist, Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, who served as the managing director of publication from 1 April 1905 until his death in 1923.

Shri Kasturi Iyengar must be turning in his grave. Many people learnt English writing skills by reading The Hindu in the past. Appreciated should have been Appreciable Let It Continues should have been Let it ContinueDravida model DIPR needs language specialists pic.twitter.com/OvXqprLkMp
SS Iyengar (@Isriramseshadri) May 7, 2025

But Iyenger's post went viral, with many X users hitting out at The Hindu for publishing the ad with incorrect English. Many of them assumed it to be a part of the newspaper's front page visuals.

"We were told to read The Hindu to improve our English... that newspaper is dead today. What a travesty for such a reputation," wrote Bharath Shankar (@bharath_shankar), resharing Iyenger's post. Another X user, Barath Raam (@RaamBarath), commented, "The state of this newspaper. Good thing we stopped it almost half a decade back."

It is, however, important to note that the mistake was made in the ad, the content for which is provided by the advertiser, DMK. Advertisements fall outside the editorial jurisdiction of the newspaper -- a fact that a few other users also pointed out.