The previous AIADMK government’s controversial proposal to rename the anglicised names of 1,018 places in Tamil Nadu with new English spellings remains in cold storage.
In fact, it has not been considered by the DMK government at all, sources in the State government told The Hindu. “There is no active plan to consider it. In fact, the AIADMK government had proposed it and the issue ran into a controversy over the manner in which the renaming was done. The AIADMK government itself did not press ahead with it,” a source said.
Following widespread outrage, condemnation and a flurry of memes, the AIADMK government withdrew the order. The then Tamil Development Minister, Ma Foi K. Pandiarajan, had told The Hindu at that time that a standard transliteration would be applied to ensure that the anglicised names were consistent because three different transliteration tools were used during the first exercise.
The proposal also ran into opposition over the revision of the English spelling and many Tamil scholars saw the exercise as an attempt at subverting the Tamil identity. The name changes would have also led to a massive revision across departments.
Meanwhile, the new building of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) at Perumbakkam is ready for inauguration. The authorities are awaiting a word from the Prime Minister’s Office, a source said. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to visit Tamil Nadu on January 12 to open 11 new medical colleges, the source said the event could also be used to get the CICT building inaugurated. The CICT now functions on a campus at Taramani.
In August last year, Minister for Tamil Official Language Thangam Thennarasu informed the Assembly that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was firm that the CICT would remain an autonomous institution.
