COIMBATORE: MDMK leader and Rajya Sabha member Vaiko on Thursday backed actor-politician Kamal Haasan's remarks that the Kannada language was born out of Tamil.
Addressing the media, Vaiko said that Tamil is one of the oldest languages like Latin or Greek. "Not only Robert Caldwell (renowned 19th-century missionary and linguist), but other linguistic experts across the globe have acknowledged that Tamil is the oldest language in the world," the veteran politician said.
"We are not lauding the Tamil language as we are from Tamil Nadu. There is nothing wrong in Kamal Hassan's statement since he stated the truth that Kannada was born out of Tamil," said Vaiko who demanded the fringe parties in Karnataka to stop protesting against Kamal and Tamils in Karnataka.
Vaiko blamed the lack of timely police intelligence for the tragic Bengaluru stampede on Wednesday.
"The police intelligence wing could have gathered a report about the visitors and taken prior steps to prevent it," he noted.