india

Updated: Oct 01, 2019 19:30 IST

DMK president MK Stalin on Tuesday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reiteration that Tamil is the oldest language and called upon him to ‘walk the talk’ and honour it by making it an official language on a par with Hindi.

“The Prime Minister’s words give immense happiness and pride not only to Tamils here but to every Tamilian across the globe. We wholeheartedly welcome the PM’s views and appreciate him for the same,” Stalin said in a statement.

“This is a major departure and a welcome step from the BJP and the Central government since 2014 from when Sanskrit and Hindi were imposed with a missionary zeal. It is of great significance that our PM has accepted the historical fact that Tamil is the oldest language on earth and praised it. It has received global attention,” he added.

In what appears to be a change of heart, the DMK seems to be no more into protest mode against the BJP-led central government over ‘Hindi imposition’. The Dravidian major praising the Prime Minister is also politically significant.

In the wake of Union Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah’s remark last month on Hindi being a unifier, the DMK had announced a statewide protest in Tamil Nadu. The party later called off the stir after a meeting with Tamil Nadu governor Banwarlial Purohit following Shah’s explanation.

Stalin recalled that the PM had quoted Sangam era Tamil poet Kaniyan Poongundranar’s famed quote, ‘Yaadhum Oorey, yaavarum kelir’ (Every town is our home, everyone is kinsman) at the UN General Assembly. Further, he had reiterated it at the reception hosted by the BJP and later at the IIT-Madras convocation on Monday, the DMK president pointed out.

However, the DMK has appealed to the PM to ‘walk the talk’ on Tamil by making it the official administrative language of the country as well as the language of Madras High Court.

“Being a living language with great literary and grammatical tradition and spoken by over eight crore people all over the world, it is the responsibility of the PM to accord due recognition to Tamil. Hence, as a first step towards making all the 22 languages in the eighth schedule of the constitution as official languages, he should make Tamil, the most ancient among them, as the official language of the Union” Stalin appealed.

“If the PM accomplishes this, Tamils would be thankful to him forever,” Stalin pointed out.

Meanwhile, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) president Thol Thirumavalavan too joined the chorus in welcoming Modi’s views on Tamil.

“After Amit Shah’s remark stoking fresh fire on the language issue, the PM’s views give happiness and satisfaction,” he told the media.

Sahitya Akademi awardee and popular film lyricist Vairamuthu also praised the PM for his comments on Tamil language.

“We urge the PM to accord the same honour to Tamil at home as he had given it at the UN,” he said.