Kerala - Kozhikode   

`Malayalam will be the first language to die'

Staff Reporter

MP warns against cultural invasion

KOZHIKODE: The current `cultural invasion' is destroying local languages, M.P. Veerendrakumar, MP, has said.

Inaugurating a two-day national conference of the Kerala State Library Council, which began here on Tuesday, Mr. Veerendrakumar said, in that case, Malayalam would be the first language to die.

He said Tamil would be the last. This was evident from the high regard the people of Tamil Nadu had for their mother tongue.

For thinking, English was a good language. But Keralites would not be able to think with their heart in that language.

Plight of rivers

He said that after this century the Ganga, the Brahmaputra and the Sindhu would cease to exist. The death of a river was not only the death of a culture, but of a group of people as well, he said.

"The flag to be used for `salt struggle' in Kozhikode was kept at a library. Later it was taken from there and used at the struggle. Thus, the library movement in the State was closely related to the freedom struggle," Mr. Veerendrakumar said.

He said knowledge was not something to be used for destruction.

Mayor M. Bhaskaran presided. G. Karthikeyan, MLA; Deshabhimani chief editor V.V. Dakishnamurthy, G. Balamohanan Thampi, and K. Balakrishnan Nambiar were among those who spoke at the function.

K.R. Pradhan from Orissa inaugurated the seminar `Library movements in various States' later in the day. M.T. Vasudevan Nair would inaugurate a cultural conference on Wednesday morning.

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