Comments by "M Shastri" (@libshastra) on "PM Modi on stage, Stalin re-ignites language war; Demands official language status for Tamil" video.

Is CM Stalin willing to fund Tamil language schools outside of TN like TN state did back in the 60-70s? Otherwise there is no point asking for Official language status. Stalin is all talk no action - Tamil this, Tamil that. As a Tamil I am disgusted by his inaction. Our current generation of Tamils who live outside of Tamil Nadu are functionally illiterate because of decades of inaction by TN govt. How can you expect Hindi speakers to learn Tamil when you don't facilitate learning Tamil amongst the Tamil community living outside of Tamil Nadu?
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@alfredbernard9227 guess what, the Hindi states used to fund Hindi education as well through Dakshin Bharat Hindi Sabha until Rajiv Gandhi's Education Policy centralized it. Now DBHS is just rotting. Also guess what, CG was pretty heavy handed with Hindi education in Hindi states. They suppressed Maitili, Awadh, Bhojpuri, Pahadi basa in the name of Hindi. At least Modi govt is starting to fix that. At least take the time to learn about our country rather than rely on stereotypes.
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@sagarshetty3175 My Tamil father learnt Tamil along with Marathi from a Public School in Pune. I had no facility to learn Tamil from a school in Mumbai in the 90s and 2000s because TN Govt. stopped Tamil language programs. You can't say Tamil is not accepted by Hindi speakers when you don't allow Tamils living outside of TN to learn Tamil. How can you expect Hindi speakers to learn Tamil?
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Tamil Nadu used to facilitate learning Tamil in the 60s and 70s. You could learn Tamil from a Public School in Maharashtra. They stopped all that since the 80s and the current generation became functionally illiterate. There is an estimated 20% Tamils (plenty of them are 2-3 gen) in Dharavi, Mumbai, they have no access to learning Tamil.
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@manojv2438 Where's the support for them? Why aren't there schools helping Tamils learn Tamil language?
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@srutisukumar8609 which is unfortunate. Tamils like me who lived outside of TN because of circumstances were ignored by TN. Don't we deserve to learn Tamil? Don't we deserve to learn about Tamil literature? We can't even read and appreciate the beauty of Tirukurral and we get dissed by native Tamils. If this the treatment given to Tamil diaspora, then what right do we have to demand that Hindi speakers should learn Tamil? What right entitles us to demand preservation of Tamil when we make zero effort to include the diaspora into Tamil culture?
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@smitaaaiyer6598 my Tamil father, learnt to read and write Tamil from a Maharashtra State public school in Pune. His textbooks came from TN Education Board. He passed his exams for Tamil subject that Tamil education board prepared and sent to other states. His classroom was made of 10 students and they had once a week Tamil classes. This was the 60-70s. By the time, we were born, that program stopped. Our mother had to send my sister to TN to learn Tamil in the mid 80s-90s. She is barely Tamil literate. My parents could only find one Kendriya Vidyalaya school in all of Mumbai (Navy Nagar) which had Tamil as a subject and that was under CBSE. It was impractical and I was unable to learn Tamil. I was denied an opportunity to learn about my heritage. But I'm merely one in several million neglected Tamil diaspora both in India and abroad. In places like Canada, Tamil academia are financed by Sri Lanka but somehow it is above DMK to facilitate learning Tamil outside of Tamil Nadu.
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Forget which State will accept a 3rd language. TN Govt. used to fund Tamil language learning institutes. They used to publish textbooks, syllabuses, work with State Education Boards and conduct Tamil exams in the 60s and 70s. My Tamil Father who was born in Pune and lives in Maharashtra, learnt Tamil from a Public school in Pune, I was born in Mumbai, my school had no facility to teach me Tamil. I had no support from TN govt to learn Tamil. I am functionally illiterate in Tamil. DMK & ADMK made the Tamil diaspora a pariah in our own country.
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@karthekeyanperiyasamy3093 Kamaraj was a forward thinking politician. He understood Tamil isn't limited to TN.
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@ortee95 they stopped conducting exams, distributing textbooks, learning guides, allows communities to teach Tamil, conduct poetry competitions etc. TN govt used to pay Maha govt in kind (textbooks, exams, teaching guides, political support etc.) There's been 0 support from TN govt for Tamil outside of TN since the late 70s
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@alfredbernard9227 also are you saying Tamils who live outside of TN don't deserve to learn their mother tongue? What kind of exclusionary nonsense are you spouting. You don't deserve to be called Indian, let alone Tamil with that attitude.
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