IIT-M flayed for not playing Tamizhthai Vazhthu

The event attended by union minister Nitin Gadkari and minister of state Pon Radhakrishnan on IIT campus opened with students singing Maha Ganapathi in Sanskrit, prompting reporters to question IIT director Bhaskar Ramamurthi. 

“The issue is not what you sing, what you don’t. The issue is, are you communicating? Are we working with Tamil Nadu government, are we helping the colleges here? Don’t ask us as to what language we sing in,” Ramamurthi said. 

When asked about singing a religious song, he passed the buck on to students and said, “Students chose the song… They will only sing the song they know. A few have sung Marathi songs as well.” The institute did not have norms in singing songs, or a team to sing it, he added. 

However, this did not satisfy the political parties in Tamil Nadu, which had recently criticised Kanchi mutt junior pontiff Jayendra Saraswati for remaining seated while the anthem was played at a book release function. 

DMK working president MK Stalin called it a “deliberate act” to insult Tamil language and culture in a secular institution. “No matter how they justify, it is unacceptable,” Stalin remarked, demanding the BJP to give up such efforts and ensure that the Tamil invocation song was played in future events. 

Asking IIT-M management not to evade the issue by blaming students, PMK founder Dr Ramadoss also demanded an apology from it.