Progressive Emaciation Of Tamil

Muslim Murasu, June 2013

Tamil is the mother tongue for seven and half crore people. Two crore Tamilians living outside Tamilnadu also still maintain some attachment with the language.
Fifty years earlier, pedestrian footpaths, platforms, bus stops, private verandahs and porches nurtured readership of Tamil magazines and books. Tamil popularity drifted towards Hindi bashing in no time. Those who paraded Tamil on stage cunningly used it for political harvest. Language strengths became monetary gains. Hindi patrons looked for an opportunity to crush Tamil.
English domination silently crept in. Tamil scholars were happy in their double speak. They romanticized with Tamil on the stage and cherished English in their homes.
Tamil fanaticism that was raging between 1955 and 1965 turned towards upper, dominant caste opposition. Fake election promises brought ostentatious political success. Subsequently, Tamil society was led into cinema and liquor trappings. Tamil suffered at the hands of hypocrite politicians.
Tamil society faced a major political divide in 1972. Hatred on Malayalam was unleashed. Tea stalls and lodges owned by Malayalam speaking population were ravaged. Those who fled took shelter in gulf countries and big cities like Delhi.
Rooting for a nation for Ealam that started in 1980 did not help the cause of Tamil or Tamilnadu. On the contrary, it caused alienation and declining of rights. Tamilians who occupied berths in central government served the looting by multinational capitalists and home grown contractors. Publishing the names, addresses and assets value of those owning premises taller than three storeys will expose the truth.
There is no dearth of statues of district leaders, caste and racial leaders, state level and national level leaders in any of the thirty two districts in Tamilnadu. Valluvar Kottam with four thousand seats has not helped hosting events or speeches supporting Tamil growth. In the past fourteen thousand days, not even fifty days have been constructively used. Neither has Valluvar statue, weighing seven thousand tonnes in Kanyakumari shore, helped in anchoring Tamil. Mushrooming English speaking classes is the evidence.
Spending hundred crore rupees is not going to induce widespread cultural upturn. State government can be commended if it can identify, recognize and help independent writers, authors and columnists, who, on their own strength and clean heart, work for Tamil language.