Tamil as a Governance Language-Durai Sundaresan

I recently read a book, “Tamil as Government’s Language,” written by Durai Sundaresan: தமிழ் ஆட்சி மொழி – ஒரு வரலாற்று நோக்கு (1921–1956). Durai Sundaresan has done a lot of work in producing this book. It details the speeches of the different members of the Legislative Assembly in the Madras Presidency, or Tamil Nadu as it is now called. Some of the assembly proceedings then were in English and the book presents them in Tamil. It was excellent to go back in time and read what different people (the folks whose names we read in history books) said about Tamil as a language of governance.

As we know, the Madras Presidency did not just have a Tamil-speaking population; it also included what became Andhra Pradesh, and parts of Kerala, Karnataka and more. As the assembly had members from different regions, it was not possible to have Tamil as the only language spoken in the assembly. English was encouraged, and a lot of these folks did speak in English. Even when English was used in the debates, the speeches were also translated into Tamil. However, when the states were reorganised on the basis of the languages, there came an opportunity to make Tamil the language of the assembly’s proceedings and also the Governance language of the State. Then there were several discussions on making Tamil the language of governance.

There were also discussions at the floor of the house in making Tamil as the medium of instruction, not just in schools but even in colleges. Members acknowledged that not everything could be changed to Tamil immediately, but for governance, they argued, a deadline should be fixed: say, within 10 years, all use of English in governance should be changed to Tamil.

We can also see how things have changed over the years. In March 1955, Dr. A. Srinivasan said in the Legislative Assembly:

Everything we speak at home is Tamil; we speak Tamil while eating; at those times we never even think of English. What I don’t understand is why the ministers speak in English only when they come into this House.

Today, this trend has reversed in our cities. We cannot confidently say that everything we speak at home is Tamil.

These are some parts of the speeches from the Madras Legislature on making Tamil the language of government, given in the original Tamil with an English translation alongside, in date order. (Thanks Claude for the translation)

Source: Durai Sundaresan, தமிழ் ஆட்சி மொழி – ஒரு வரலாற்று நோக்கு (1921–1956), Tamil University, Thanjavur, 1986 (first edition). 

Here is the pdf of the compiled notes with English translation.

Thank you for reading,

Karthik Chidambaram