The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Tamil Protection Movement to launch stir on May 23

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Friday, May 20, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Protection Movement to launch stir on May 23

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Tamil Protection Movement (TPM) on Thursday announced that it would launch the first phase of the ``language stir'' on May 23 in Chennai and other district headquarters.

Asserting that the campaign would be conducted peacefully, S. Ramadoss, TPM patron and Pattali Makkal Katchi founder, told presspersons that members of the Movement would blacken display boards of commercial establishments which gave prominence to languages other than Tamil or those which did not have Tamil names.

The focus of the first phase of the stir was to stress the implementation of three Government Orders issued in 1983, 1984 and 1990, all of which had directed the commercial establishments to give prominence to Tamil in their name boards.

The TPM chief, Thol. Tirumavalavan, said ``we are only doing what the Government should do."

Decrying attempts at portraying the TPM as a body against English, Dr. Ramadoss said the Movement's motto was that ``Let us preserve Tamil. Let us respect other languages."

Its consistent position was that English could be taught in schools as a second language from sixth standard to 12th standard.

Asked whether the campaign would gain any credibility as the issue of Tamil protection had been used in the past only for political purposes, Dr. Ramadoss responded that ``we will demonstrate, through our endeavours, that we mean what we say.''

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