Hailed as the father of the co-operative movement in Tamil Nadu, Tiruppur Angappa Ramalingam Chettiar (1881 - 1952) was a Tamil lawyer, politician, businessman, and Member of the Indian Parliament from Tamil Nadu. In his historic speech at the Indian Constituent Assembly on the 13th of September 1949, he decimated the claims of North Indian politicians that Hindi language should have supremacy over all other languages in India. Arguing that the South Indian languages are better cultivated and have greater literature than Hindi, he appealed to the North Indian people to give up their attitude of domination and of dictation. Furthermore, he asked them “to have a feeling that we [Indians] are all living together in a common country. It is only then that India can proceed and be successful and form a united nation.” Dr Dhamu Pongiyannan presents this week’s Thamil Thadam.
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