'Sweet language' Tamil is known as masala dosa in North India: Vaishnaw

Chennai: Hailing Tamil as a 'sweet' language, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said it is one of the assets of the country and the world.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi always ensured that every Indian language gets its due respect, the Union Railways, Information and Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology Minister said at an event near here.

Participating at the inauguration of a manufacturing factory of Zetwerk Electronics at Sriperumbudur, Vaishnaw said he was lucky as he got a professor by name Sadagopan while pursuing his academics at IIT Kanpur who taught him about the Tamil language.

Greeting the audience with a traditional 'Vanakkam' (Namaste) in Tamil language at the beginning of his speech, Vaishnaw said, "Tamil is a very very sweet language. All I know is three words -- Vanakkam, Eppadi Irukeenga (How are you) and Nandri (Thanks)."

Referring to his interaction with Sadagopan at IIT Kanpur, the Minister said, "Sadagopan introduced me to Tamil language and in North India, Tamil is generally known as masala dosa, right? He taught me so many facets of Tamil culture... It is a very, very deep culture, very ancient culture. We all respect Tamil culture, and we all respect the Tamil language."

"This is one of our assets of our country and this is also one of the assets of the world and let's take pride in that. Let's take joy in that and let's enjoy all the Indian languages. And that is the spirit with which our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) is working today making sure that every Indian language gets its big place under the Sun and make sure they get the respect, which is due to them, make sure that they get the exposure," he said.

Citing an example, Vaishnaw said, "I will tell you one small thing. In the Telecom and Data Protection Laws, our Prime Minister inspired us and asked why the Notice should be only in English and why not in all Indian languages. So, taking inspiration from him, in the Law itself we have said all the languages in the Constitution must be available as a choice to the users. That is the thought process of our leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi. So, let's get above this and let's make sure that these things which sometimes come in the way of friendship and relationship between different civilisations, between different people and between our own brothers and sisters, those barriers should not come."

"We should all look at one big goal of making our country very very strong, making sure that we become the third largest economy. Thank you very much, rombha rombha nandri (Many Many thanks)" he said before concluding his address.

His comments come amid the ongoing language row in Tamil Nadu, where the ruling DMK has alleged imposition of Hindi by the Centre through the National Education Policy.

The Union Government has denied any such imposition.