News

No barrier among languages, vested interests creating one: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

VARANASI: In a veiled dig at Chief Minister MK Stalin, Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said a few friends in Tamil Nadu want to create a division based on language due to their parochial political interests. Speaking at the Kashi Tamil Sangamam (KTS) 4.0 in Varanasi, inaugurated by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Pradhan, without naming Stalin, said, With utmost politeness, every year I write to the honourable CM of Tamil Nadu to come here for the inauguration of the Sangamam. You can see how my young friends from TN are celebrating civilisation, which has no boundary. Emphasising that Kashi Tamil Sangam has become a public movement, Pradhan said the people of TN have started eagerly waiting for the new edition of KTS every year. The spiritual and cultural aspects the song, food, textile, agriculture, knowledge exchange are integral part of the language. Centuries ago, people from Rameswaram visited Kashi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has categorically said that like Sanskrit, Tamil, too, is a primary language of human civilisation. There was no barrier of language. Vested interests create barriers between them, Pradhan said. Great Bharathiyar came to Kasi and learnt Sanskrit, Hindi and great Bharatiya Bashas from the holy poets of this land and went back to Tamil Nadu. Rishi Agasthiyar went from Himalaya and became a pioneer of Siddha medicine and Tamil grammar. You cant create artificial barrier and divisions. You may succeed in politics but you cannot divide the society. My young friends in Tamil Nadu are eagerly waiting when IIT Madras will be launching its new portal for KTS, Pradhan said. Speaking on the occasion, Adityanath said, KTS has opened a new door for cultural, economic, and social participation in North India. It is going to realise the vision of the PM of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat. Key programmes in the Sangamam include Tamil Karkalam (Tamil teaching in Varanasi schools), Tamil Karpom (Tamil learning tours for 300 students from Kashi), and the Sage Agastya Vehicle Expedition (tracing the civilisational route from Tenkasi to Kashi). The event will conclude at Rameswaram. TN Governor RN Ravi, and Puducherry Lt Governor K Kailashnathan were among those who spoke.