Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Friday said the 12th century poet Kamban, who mastered Sanskrit to read Valmiki’s Ramayana before penning his own version of the epic, best exemplified the truth that embracing another language would never diminish the importance or glory of Tamil.
Addressing the 55th Kamban Festival under the auspices of the Puducherry Kamban Kazhagam, Ms. Soundararajan said while it was beyond dispute that the mother tongue which served as the life-force should never be neglected, one should also be open to exposure to another language, and this was what the New Education Policy advocated.
“Why I am saying this here is because there is no need for anyone to tell the Puducherry government about the importance of Tamil. If Tamil is flourishing anywhere it is in Puducherry”, she said.
Referring to the controversy over the language policy circulars issued by Jipmer, the Lt. Governor said though they were issued for the benefit of the substantial number of Hindi-speaking staff and not to relegate Tamil in any way, several political parties had been stoking fears of ‘Hindi imposition’.
“They should understand that such protests will hinder our own patients from seeking treatment at Jipmer”. As the protests were continuing in spite of assertions that there was no attempt to impose Hindi, Ms. Soundararajan said she was reiterating that the government would under no circumstances allow the relegation of Tamil’s importance in any sphere of life in the Union Territory.
Referring to a speaker’s observation that she was the first Lt. Governor to address the Kamban Festival in Tamil, Ms. Soundararajan said she was grateful for several firsts that Puducherry had given her including that of the first Lt. Governor to take the oath of office in the mother tongue.
“Tamil is not just in my name but in my life”, she said.
Chief Minister N. Rangasamy said wherever Tamil was a presence there would always be a freshness in being a speaker of the language.
Speaker R. Selvam, Supreme Court Judge V. Ramasubramanian, Home Minister A. Namassivayam, former Speaker V.P. Sivakolunthu and office bearers of the Sangam also participated.
