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Speaker pleads for Tamil
 The Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, K Kalimuthu, has
expressed his concern over English being preferred to
Tamil language by the younger generation, especially college-goers.
He was speaking at the inauguration of a three-day Tamil cultural fest called the 'Muthamizh Vizha' organised at the Prof Dhanapalan College for Women, Kelambakkam, near Chennai. He said Tamil was one of the oldest languages to have survived and sustained through centuries and in the due course of time maintained its vigour and individuality, thanks to its exclusive and traditional literature.
 He added that Tamil would withstand any onslaught from any other language or culture. However, he requested the Tamil youth to speak the language more, especially in the light of the language being honoured with the classical status.
The one-hour talk he gave in Tamil and about Tamil kept the audience spellbound as he could quote from numerous verses, some of them tongue-twisters, an array of Tamil alternatives for many Tamil words, the modern context and so on.
 Prof
Dhanapalan, the founder of the college, was extremely critical of the contemporary Tamil society when he said Tamil was heading towards a 'slow death', as predicted by Tamil scholars and peers. He requested the government to take all necessary measures to curb this trend.
He also recalled the Tamil revolution inspired by the Tamil scholar Mu Varadrasanar (Mu Va), which turned out to be a popular movement among the students and the younger community of yesteryear. He also attributed the ineffectiveness of Tamil literature as the main reason behind the lack of interest in Tamil among students. He also regretted the fact that Tamilians preferred English as the spoken language at home, which influenced the children too.
 The inaugural was attended by E Sundaramoorthy, Vice-Chancellor, Tamil University, Marimuthu, former vice-chancellor of Bharathidasan University, and Vanitha Sampathkumar, the principal of the college.
The three-day 'Muthamizh Vizha' witnessed contests in Tamil dance, drama and theatre, with judges coming from the tinsel world and the literary world like
Anuradha Ramanan and actor
Prasanna.
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