NEW DELHI: Prime Minister

on October 20 tweeted the Tamil translation of the poem he had written in Hindi at the shores of Mamallapuram during the visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping. The poem’s translation appeared only in Tamil. This is not the first time that he is seen to be reaching out to

.

In the past couple of months, there have been several instances when he has been seen wooing the Tamil people. While MK Stalin-led DMK is yet to take a stand on the PM’s overtures to the Tamil people, Congress sees it as a ploy to compensate for the controversy which had erupted over BJP president and Union home minister

’s remarks on Hindi.

While AIADMK, which is in power in Tamil Nadu, views the PM’s moves as a “concerted effort” to neutralise the negative narrative against him, BJP does not see anything new in this.

A widespread protest, particularly in the South, erupted after Amit Shah said on

on September 14 that Hindi should be developed as the country’s unifying language.

Amit Shah issued a clarification a couple of days later and said he was not talking about imposition of Hindi on any state.

Following this, PM Narendra Modi was heard showering lavish praise over the

during his last US visit. At ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event in Houston, he called Tamil the "oldest language of the world". Subsequently, in his United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) speech, he quoted Tamil scholar Kaniyan Pungundranar of 4th century BC over universal brotherhood.

On his return to India on September 28, Modi’s first visit outside Delhi was to the Tamil Nadu capital to attend the convocation ceremony of IIT, Madras on September 30. In his speech, he repeated his remark about Tamil being the oldest language of the world.

He said, “We are in the state of Tamil Nadu, which has a special distinction. It is home to one of the oldest languages in the world - Tamil.”

His next overture to Tamil Nadu was when Chinese president Xi Jinping visited Mamallapuram in the state on October 11. Modi was seen wearing the traditional veshti-shirt and mel thundu. For two days, he tweeted in Tamil besides in Mandarin and English and again professed his love for Tamil.

Xi Jinping was offered Tamil cuisine during his two-day stay in Mamallapuram, which had trade, civilisational and cultural links with ancient China.

On October 12, Narendra Modi was seen plogging at Mamallapuram beach and he later tweeted a poem which he had written in Hindi. He posted the Tamil translation if the same poem on Monday.

Speaking to TOI on the PM’s outreach to the Tamil Nadu people, a senior leader of the state’s main Opposition DMK said the party had not formulated a “line” on the issue.

However, Congress was forthcoming in its reaction. Party leader BK Hariprasad said, “Modi wants to cover up the blunder committed by Amit Shah. Had Modi not reached out to the Tamil people, they would have launched a large-scale protest against BJP. However, the people of Tamil Nadu will not get carried away by the overtures being made by Modi.”

Tamil Nadu minister K Pandiarajan saw the developments from another perspective. He said it was not the first time that Modi said that Tamil is the most ancient language in the world. “About seven months ago, he had said in one of the episodes of his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’ that Tamil is more ancient than Sanskrit,” he said.

Pandiarajan, who is also an AIADMK MLA, however, said Modi has been making concerted efforts to capture the Tamil mind in the last two months. “He [Modi] has been making genuine and carefully attempts to reach out to the Tamils. As a result of this, the anti-Modi negative narrative built by the Opposition during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections has been completely wiped out,” he said and added that the Opposition was not realising this aspect of the PM’s moves.

DMK had swept the general elections by winning 37 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said PM Narendra Modi’s love for Tamil and Tamil Nadu is quite old. “He has always been saying that Tamil is an ancient language and culture. He is attached to the southern state,” he said.

Asked whether Modi’s overtures were linked to controversy generated over Amit Shah’s statement over Hindi or to the next assembly election in the state, Shahnawaz Hussain said it was neither. “He had cited verses from saint-poet

in his Independence Day speech also. It is Modi’s pure love for Tamil and Tamil Nadu,” he said.