CUDDALORE: Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan has latched on to reports on a recent discomfiture of a DMK leader at the meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA when his request for the English translation of a Hindi speech was brusquely turned by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“There is nothing wrong in learning another language like Hindi when it could be easily understood. If we want to promote Tamil in North India, we must learn Hindi. Just as Kambar read Valmiki’s ‘Ramayan’ and wrote ‘Kambaramayanam’ in Tamil, by learning other languages, Tamil will develop. DMK used language for political purposes, and now they have learnt a hard lesson on rejecting Hindi,” she said after visiting the Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram.
She also noted that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin may have realised the significance of Nitish Kumar’s advice to learn Hindi. “Learning Hindi is special, and I hope Stalin understands it, as their alliance leader pointed out,” Tamilisai noted. After DMK R Baalu, MP, asked for a translation of Nitish Kumar’s Hindi speech, the latter refused it and remarked they should learn Hindi as it a national language. The incident happened at the opposition conclave in New Delhi on Tuesday. Tamil Nadu CM Stalin too was present.
“English is a foreign language; why learn that when we can learn a language from our nation? We couldn’t send a strong leader to the centre as we refrained from learning Hindi,” she reminded. Soundarajan was earlier welcomed by traditional priests, Podhu Dikshitars, as she arrived for worship at the temple on Wednesday night. Tamilisai later proceeded to Thillai Kali temple for darshan.