Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed the International Bharathi Festival 2020 through video conferencing. The festival was organised by Vanavil Cultural Centre in Chennai to celebrate the 138th birth anniversary of Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi, an eminent writer, poet and journalist from Tamil Nadu.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also conferred the 2020 Bharathi Award to the noted writer Seeni Viswanathan, who is credited with compiling the voluminous works of Bharathi in chronological order. The Bharathi Award is conferred every year since 1994, to eminent persons who have done laudable service in any field of social relevance.