Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Chennai to launch 11 mega projects worth ₹31,500 crore, on Thursday praised Tamil Nadu as a special place and lauded the Tamil language as eternal and its culture as global.
Sharing stage, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin made a pitch for Tamil to be on par with Hindi and asked Modi to make the language an official one in offices of the government of India and at the Madras High Court.
In his address after inaugurating new completed projects and laying the foundation stone for fresh schemes in road, railway and housing sectors, Modi quoted a popular verse of nationalist poet Subramania Bharathi in praise of Tamil and said that in every field someone from Tamil Nadu was excelling.
Here are top quotes from PM Modi's address in Chennai:
1. It is always wonderful to be back in Tamil Nadu! This land is special. The people, culture and language of this state are outstanding.
2. The government is fully committed to further popularising Tamil language and culture. In January, the new campus of Central Institute of Classical Tamil was inaugurated in Chennai. The new campus is fully funded by the Union government.
{{/usCountry}}2. The government is fully committed to further popularising Tamil language and culture. In January, the new campus of Central Institute of Classical Tamil was inaugurated in Chennai. The new campus is fully funded by the Union government.
{{/usCountry}}3. Sri Lanka is passing through difficult times. I am sure you are concerned with the developments there. As a close friend and neighbour, India is providing all possible support to Sri Lanka.
4. The Tamil language is eternal and the Tamil culture is global. From Chennai to Canada, from Madurai to Malaysia, from Namakkal to New York, from Salem to South Africa, the occasions of Pongal and Puthandu are marked with great fervour.
5. I am particularly happy that five railway stations are being redeveloped. This modernisation and development is being done keeping in mind the needs of the future. At the same time, it will merge with local art and culture.
6. I would like to congratulate all those who will be getting houses as a part of the historic Chennai Light House project under the PM-Awas Yojana. This has been a very satisfying project for us.
7. Multi-modal logistic parks will be a paradigm shift in freight ecosystem of our country. Each of these projects across various sectors will boost job creation and our resolve to be Aatmanirbhar.
8. History has taught us that those nations which gave topmost importance to infrastructure made the transition from developing to developed countries. The government of India is fully focussed on building infrastructure that is top quality and sustainable.
9. A 'Subramania Bharati Chair' on Tamil studies at Banaras Hindu University was recently announced. Since the BHU is located in my constituency, the joy was extra special.
10. Our government is working to achieve saturation level coverage for key schemes. Take any sector - toilets, housing, financial inclusion… we are working towards complete coverage.