Kovai to host Ninth World Tamil Conference from January 21-24

By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai

CHENNAI, 19 September (asiantribune.com): Coimbatore will host the ninth edition of World Tamil Conference which will be held for four days from January 21 to 24, next year. Significantly, the current meet is organised after the Central government has accorded classical language status to Tamil.

The dates were finalised on Saturday at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to discuss the conduct of the Tamil Conference in a grand manner, an official release here said. The decision to hold the Tamil conference however was announced at the Conference of District Collectors and Police Officers on September 17.

Finance Minister K Anbazhagan, Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin, Union Minister A Raja, Ministers Veerapandi K Arumugam, K Ponmudi, Pongalur Palanisamy, Chief Secretary K S Tripathy, Finance Secretary Tamil Development Department secretary, Tourism Secretary, Police Intelligence Chief and Coimbatore District Collector participated in the meeting, the release said.

At the meeting it was decided to constitute various committees and find some responsible persons to head the committees and members. Soon more review meetings would be held in Chennai and Coimbatore to decide about the venue and finalise the route for procession, the release said.

Tamils and Tamil scholars living in various foreign countries would be contacted and invited to the conference, the release added.

The decision to organise the conference has been taken in deference to the wishes of Tamil scholars, researches, journalists and experts in Tamil language in other countries, Karunanidhi said

The Chief Minister’s keen interest to make the forthcoming Tamil conference a historical event in every aspect, was evident from his two meetings held in quick succession last week.

He spent considerable time on explaining how the collectors should make the conference a remarkable one. He made it clear that funds would not be a problem for achieving the task. He said the government was considering appointment of a special officer at the Secretariat to oversee the works for the conference and appointment of a coordinator to the collector of Coimbatore district.

Karunanidhi wants to hold the conference in a grand manner, involving scholars from various parts of the globe to showcase the rich cultural traditions of the Tamil race to the world and ultimately helped rekindle the pride of Tamil language. He said the chariots to be used during the rally to mark the conference should trumpet the glory of the Tamil race and the kings, poets and warriors who lived in this land in the past

The first Tamil Conference of held in Kuala Lumpur in April 1966. After the DMK assumed office for the first time in 1967, the then chief minister C N Annadurai had conducted the Second World Tamil Conference in the then Madras in a grand manner. The present Chief Minister Karunanidhi then played a major part in it.

It was then the city got filled with the statues of Tamil scholars. Dr. Sir A Ramaswami Mudaliar unveiled the statue of Annadurai at the Round Thana, Mount Road. Following this ten important figures in the Tamil history were unveiled on the Marina Beach. They were: Thiruvalluvar, Avvai, Kamban, Veeramamunivar ( C J Beschi), Bharathi, Bharathidasan, Dr. G U Pope, Dr. Robert Caldwell, Va Vu. Chidambaram and Kannagi.

The past eight world Tamil conferences and their dates are: Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia, April 16-23, 1966), Chennai (January 3-10, 1968), Paris (July 15-18, 1970), Jaffna (January 3-9, 1974), Madurai (January 4-10, 1981), Kuala Lumpur (November 15-19, 1987), Mauritius (December 1-8, 1989) and Thanjavur (January 1-5, 1995).

The Tamil conference is taking place after a gap of 15 years. The last meet was held at Thanjavur during the AIADMK regime in 1995.