Three-language policy: AR Rahman tweets to Centre

Legendary music composer A R Rahman has done something unusual. The ‘Mozart of Madras’ has been quietly criticising the Union government on Twitter for the past few days for its draft report that recommended three-language policy.

Rahman, who takes immense pride in flaunting his Tamil identity, on Tuesday stunned his fans on the social media through a simple tweet on his official Twitter account.

“AUTONOMOUS | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary,” Rahman wrote on his Twitter page by sharing a web link that defines what the word meant. “Independent and having the power to make your own decisions; an autonomous organization, country, or region is independent and has the freedom to govern itself: an autonomous region/ province/ republic/ council,” was the definition for Autonomous, according to Cambridge English Dictionary.

Rahman’s subtle tweet was interpreted that he was advocating autonomy for states to enable them take decisions on education and other matters.

Just on Sunday, as Twitter was involved in heated exchange of words on “imposition of Hindi”, Rahman had shared a video of a Punjabi singer singing a Tamil number composed by him with perfection.

“Tamizh is spreading in Punjab,” Rahman wrote while sharing the video link on Sunday. This was interpreted as Rahman’s own way of telling those concerned that Tamizh was spreading in far-away regions in India, while there was an attempt to force Hindi in the state that has resisted imposition of any language for decades.

On Monday too, the actor contributed his bit to the anti-Hindi sentiments on Twitter by welcoming the Union Government’s decision to withdraw the draft that imposed Hindi on schools in non-Hindi speaking states. “Beautiful solution. Hindi is not compulsory in Tamil Nadu. The draft has been corrected,” Rahman had tweeted on Monday.

Rahman has never shied away from flaunting his Tamil identity. Even while receiving Oscars in 2009, the actor spoke in his mother language to drive home the point that all the praise belongs to the God.