PMK Founder S Ramadoss on Thursday sought immediate removal of Hindi inscriptions on the name board of Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) in Perumbakkam. Along with Tamil and English, the board bears the name in Hindi too.
“The focus of the institute is to conduct research into Tamil language,” he said and condemned the practice of having its name written in Hindi.
Dr. Ramadoss noted that the new building of the Institute was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this year and said the name board with Hindi was not acceptable.
He pointed out that when the Institute had earlier operated from Tamil Nadu government’s building at Taramani its name board had the name only in Tamil and English .
CICT’s website also had the name in Hindi and it amounted to imposition.
He pointed out that some might argue that for institutes of the Central government it was a practice to have names in Hindi, English and regional language, but that would not hold good for CICT.
“Even though CICT is a Central government institute, the majority of its functioning depends on the State government,” Dr. Ramadoss said.
“Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is the head of the governing body and out of the 15 governing body members 9 are State government representatives,” he added..
The state government has offered land and justifying the act of having the name in Hindi is wrong, Mr. Ramadoss said.
He also sought clarification as to whether Chief Minister’s nod was sought for having the Hindi name.
Mr. Ramadoss also urged the Chief Minister to take special attention towards the issue and safeguard the autonomy of the institution.
