The Chief Minister welcomed the formation of the committee, but said that the composition of the committee is of deep concern.
Tamil Nadu Prime Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to step in and order the Ministry of Culture to reconstitute an expert committee that has been formed to study Indian culture and recruit Tamil scholars Nadu.
The Ministry of Culture has formed a committee of experts with 12 members to carry out a study on the origin and evolution of Indian culture during the last 1200 years. However, the committee has no members from South India, no women or people from marginalized communities, and has received wide opposition from southern states.
Tamil Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in his letter listed the importance of culture in Dravidian civilization and recalled the prime minister’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Mahabalipuram, a city rich in culture. The Chief Minister said: “The formation of the committee is a welcome step in deepening our understanding of the rich and varied cultural roots of our country, but the composition of the committee itself is a matter of deep concern.”
He highlighted the importance of Tamil culture and said that the Ministry decided to ignore the experts from Tamil Nadu. Citing that Tamil Nadu has a rich Dravida civilization, he said: “The committee has no representative from any of the southern states, especially from Tamil Nadu, which has a glorious past and is home to one of the oldest Dravidian civilizations: a flourishing life and culture in South India. Recent archaeological excavations at Keezhadi and other parts of Tamil Nadu reveal that the world-famous Sangam era now dates back to the 6th century BC. C. “
He also said the excavation places the Tamil culture and language as one of the oldest surviving heritages in the world and recalled PM’s visit to the Tamil Nadu Mahabalipuram cultural center.
The Chief Minister said: “Given this background, it is surprising that the Ministry of Culture has chosen to ignore the experts from Tamil Nadu when establishing such a committee. Therefore, on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu, I request that you personally intervene and direct the Ministry of Culture to reconstitute the committee of experts by bringing in eminent academics from Tamil Nadu. “
He also requested a prompt response from the Prime Minister.
The government’s decision to form a committee to study culture without the people of the southern states has drawn widespread criticism from southern political parties. DMK Member of Parliament Kanimozhi, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and the CPI (M) have also expressed reservations against the committee.
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