DMK President MK Stalin has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make Tamil as one of the official languages of the country, news agency ANI reported. Stalin’s request came a day after Prime Minister Modi said that now Tamil language was resonating across the United States after his speech at the United Nations General Assembly. According to ANI, Stalin said that the prime minister himself accepted that Tamil is the oldest language in the world, hence the Centre has the responsibility to recognize the language.
Last month, PM Modi while addressing the 74th session of UNGA had quoted an influential Tamil philosopher from the Sangam age — Kaniyan Pungundranar. He had said: “3000 years ago, a great poet of India, Kariyan Pungun-dra-naar, wrote in Tamil the most ancient language of the world: “Ya-dum, Oo-ray, Yaav-rum Ke-rir” — which means We belong to all places, and to everyone. This sense of belonging beyond borders is unique to India.”
On Monday, the prime minister again said that when he spoke in Tamil in the US and about the heritage of the Tamil language, it was received well and was now reverberating across the US.
This development comes at a time when the central government has been accused of making efforts to impose Hindi on Southern states. The recent controversy began after Home Minister Amit Shah said that it was necessary for the country to have one language that becomes its identity globally. However, this did not go down well with many regional leaders who threatened to launch protests against any such move.