REFUGEE

CHENNAI: Taking strong exception to reports that Sri Lankan Tamil scholar Karthigesu Sivathamby was hesitant of taking part in the Classical Tamil Conference to be held next year, Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi on Monday clarified that the scholar had agreed to attend the meet and has sent his suggestions on topics to be discussed at the event.
Writing in DMK mouthpiece Murasoli, Karunanidhi said some “forces” were always trying to act as stumbling blocks to efforts made by the DMK for the welfare of Tamils, and the promotion of Tamil.
The DMK chief said Sivathamby had, in fact, agreed to be in Tamil Nadu much in advance of the scheduled date to complete preliminary works to be carried out for the Classical Tamil meet and had specified the topics to be discussed during his visit.
The five topics suggested by Sivathamby include the concept of classical languages and the world classical languages other than Tamil; classical languages of India and introduction to language families of India, Samarian language and Tamil, Tamil and Japanese, Indo- Aryan, Mundari, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian, the relationship of Tamil with tribal languages of India; Tamil as a classical language; Tamil as official language in pre-Western period, inscriptional Tamil and Tamil as an official language - Indian experience, Sri Lankan experience and Singaporean experience.
Karunanidhi said that, in an earlier letter, Sivathamby had sought at least six months time to prepare for the conference, and that was the reason why the DMK government had changed the conference date from January to June 2010.