Addressing young minds at his ‘Pariksha pe Charcha’ (discussion on exams) on Friday, before students across the country sit for their board exams, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Tamil is the oldest language. It is older than Sanskrit and is beautiful.”

Continuing with his charcha-style meetings, after his radio programme ‘Chai pe Charcha’, he addressed students in a townhall meeting and engaged them on a variety of topics to help them deal with their exam stress – from time management to concentration to nutrition and exercise.

At the end of the question and the answer session with students, as he was taking his leave, the PM said, “I always feel that knowledge of languages should exist. Not many people know, but the Tamil language is older than Sanskrit. It is the oldest language.”

Modi also praised the beauty of the language and said, “It is such a beautiful language, but I feel bad that I can’t speak it. I only know how to say 'vanakkam' and I regret that I cannot go beyond this.”

The Prime Minister addressed the students only in Hindi, and apologized for not being able to speak other languages.

One student asked, “I suppose we will both be facing our exams next year. How prepared are you?” In response to this, the Prime Minister jokingly said, “Had I been your teacher, I would have advised you to become a journalist. Because only they know how to ask such twisted questions.”