The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Karunanidhi welcomes Supreme Court verdict

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Wednesday, Feb 20, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Karunanidhi welcomes Supreme Court verdict

Special Correspondent

“It is a great victory for the Tamil Nadu government”

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court judgement rejecting petitions challenging the Tamil Learning Act.

(The Supreme Court on Monday rejected petitions challenging a legislation passed by the Tamil Nadu government making Tamil a compulsory subject from Class I to X in all schools in the State from 2006-07.)

“This is a great victory for Tamil Nadu and the Tamil Nadu government,” he said, and added that all political parties that held Tamil in high esteem had congratulated the government on this.

On the demand of Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss that only Tamil should be the medium of instruction in the State, he said the DMK had been talking about this for long. He welcomed the suggestion but said it was not possible to make any hasty announcement in education.

Recalling an earlier experience, Mr. Karunanidhi said in 1970, he had announced that Tamil would be the medium of instruction and had tried to implement it.

Students were instigated after this announcement was made and there was unrest as a result. Later, after eminent persons such as Kundrakudi Adigalar and Ma.Po.Si made an appeal, the order was not given effect to.

On the criticism that a government-run cable TV operation would not benefit the people, Mr. Karunanidhi said there were some who even asked what good a government did to people.

He said there was a time when a cable television channel considered it “a sin” to telecast the images of some people. But now the same channel made it a point to give them prominence and telecast their anti-government statements.

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