‘North India knows Tamil as masala dosa’: Ashwini Vaishnaw amid language row with Tamil Nadu

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday called Tamil "a very sweet language" and one of the country's assets. However, he also remarked that North India generally associates Tamil with "masala dosa" and credited his professor for introducing him to the deeper aspects of Tamil culture.

Ashwini Vaishnaw's remarks have come amid the ongoing debate between the Centre and Tamil Nadu government over alleged ‘Hindi imposition’ and the war of words over the state replacing the Indian rupee symbol with Tamil letter ‘ru’ in the budget.

The Union minister added that the Prime Minister is making sure that every Indian language gets its big place under the sun, as well as their due respect, reported ANI.

“In north India we generally know Tamil as only ‘masala dosa’, right", said the minister, adding his professor at IIT Kanpur introduced him to so many different facets of Tamil culture.

The minister noted that in the law itself, it is said that all the languages in the constitution must be available as a choice to the youth.

“We all respect Tamil culture and Tamil language and this is one of the assets of our country, also one of the assets of the world. Let's take pride in that, let's take joy in that. Let's enjoy all the Indian languages. That is the spirit with which our PM is working today, making sure that every Indian language gets its big place under the sun, makes sure that they get their due respect, makes sure that they get the exposure,” reported ANI quoting Vaishnaw.

The minister further said that let's make sure that things that sometimes come in the way of friendship and relationship between different civilizations, between different people, between our own brothers and sisters - those barriers should not come.

"We should all look at one goal of making our country very strong, making sure that we become the third largest economy, making sure that the world recognises our soft power," added the minister.

Last week, a political row erupted between the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government over the three-language policy and the National Education Policy (NEP).

Whereas, just two day ago, several Union Ministers, including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman flayed the government for replacing the Indian rupee symbol with a Tamil letter in its logo for the budget 2025-26.

Earlier, alleging that the Union government has insulted Tamil Nadu, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin said that the people of the State would give a befitting reply to those who criticised them and called them 'uncivilized'.