CHENNAI: The AIADMK on Tuesday lashed out at IIT-M for not playing Thamizhthaai Vaazhthu at an official event, with party senior D. Jayakumar, the fisheries minister, holding the premier institution “completely at fault” in not honouring tradition and regional etiquette. Actor-politician Kamal Haasan too slammed the IIT-M for same reasons.
Arguing that it was a set 'tradition' to play the Thamizhthaai Vaazhthu, besides the national anthem, at any official function in the state-whether it is in a Central or state government institution-the minister said, “The Amma (late Jayalalithaa) government will never accept anything that is tantamount to throwing away such traditions…This is completely wrong, condemnable”.
Recalling that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently stated that Tamil was more ancient than Sanskrit, Jayakumar told reporters that the explanation of the IIT-M management (that the Tamil anthem is not mandatory in the Centrally-administered institution) was “not acceptable”. Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Pon Radhakrishnan had participated in that event laying foundation for National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts, to be set up along with the IIT-M. The audience comprising students and faculty sang a prayer for Lord Ganesha-'Maha Ganapathim Manasa Smarami' written by late composer Muthuswami Dikshithar-drawing bitter criticism from the Dravidian activists and politicians, including DMK working president M.K. Stalin, who alleged it was yet another attempt to impose Sanskrit in the state.
The controversy was actually triggered by a couple of 'enterprising' reporters of Tamil channels who quizzed IIT-M director Bhaskar Ramamoorthy on the Tamil anthem not being played and instead the Ganesha prayer being used. Visibly upset over this unexpected missile from the journalists, the director professor clarified that the institution does not issue any directions to students for a particular song to be sung. “We do not issue any directions to the students. It is they who choose the invocation song and render it on such occasions,” he had said.
In a statement, BJP state president Tamilisai Soundarrajan alleged that this controversy was raised only to suppress the various development initiatives announced by Gadkari as well as Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for Tamil Nadu. Gadkari was here on Sunday and Monday while Pradhan attended a couple of official events here Tuesday.
Taking a swipe at DMK leader M. K. Stalin, who criticised the Tamil anthem not being sung, she said the NDA has proposed more projects for Tamil Nadu than the previous Congress-led UPA, in which DMK was a key constituent. Reiterating her party's commitment for Tamil, she recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeting people in Tamil during his meetings here. Opposition parties like DMK, Congress, VCK and the Left parties were making it an issue “since they can survive only using the language plank,” she charged.
