NEW DELHI: A row over Tamil Nadu finance minister’s language and pronunciation skills during his budget speech triggered a political row in the state assembly on Monday, with the opposition members criticising his use of English and “grammatical errors”.The controversy began when MDMK MLA T M Rajendran, who won from Kadayanallur assembly constituency on the DMK’s Rising Sun symbol, pointed out “gramatical errors” in TVK minister N Marie Wilson’s August 5 budget speech.‘Several grammatical errors’Rajendran said Wilson had skipped several Tamil sentences and used English extensively during the speech. “As a Tamil enthusiast, I observed in his (Marie Wilson’s) speech that he had skipped many of the Tamil sentences. There were several grammatical errors too,’’ Rajendran said.“Atleast in the future, when he gets the opportunity the finance minister should speak in impeccable Tamil,” he added.Rajendran also asked school education minister A Rajmohan to help Wilson improve his Tamil. Rajmohan, however defended the finance minister, saying there was nothing wrong with his speech. He also pointed out that leader of opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin spoke in a plain and simple language.‘I would speak in my own style’The remarks drew an angry response from Wilson, who defended his communication style and said his focus was on governance and the state’s development rather than linguistic formalities.“The government under chief minister C Joseph Vijay has made significant achievements in the past 60-75 days, successfully bringing Rs 15,000 crores into the treasury through various reforms,” Wilson said, without elaborating.Wilson said he had worked in the education sector for 25 to 30 years and had primarily communicated in English during his professional career.“Earlier they were body shaming other and were insulting others based on caste and gender. Now they are insulting us over language,” Marie Wilson said.The minister said he felt that members were targeting his communication style and background instead of focusing on his work. He said he could not change the way he spoke simply to satisfy others.Citing the Bible, Wilson said that while he might not be well-versed in Tamil, Christianity had taught him several languages, including the “love language, peace language and the language of kindness”.He added that he could not change his pronunciation for others and said “I would speak in my own style and that I could not change it to suit others.”Speaker J C D Prabhakar intervened and advised Wilson to sit down and avoid getting angry.‘Tamil and English both allowed’DMK senior leader and former minister E V Velu sought to defuse the issue, pointing out that Tamil has several dialects across the state, including differences between north and south Chennai.Velu also stressed that Tamil Nadu followed a dual-language policy of Tamil and English.The Speaker also noted that Rajendran himself had used the English word “budget” in his speech instead of its Tamil equivalent.Prabhakar urged members to treat the matter lightly and avoid turning language into a source of conflict in the House. He said the Assembly was a forum where multiple languages were permitted under its rules and members should focus on policy discussions rather than personal remarks.The Speaker cited an earlier instance when then chief minister J Jayalalithaa allowed a Congress member to speak in Telugu in the Assembly. He also pointed out that former finance minister P Thiaga Rajan had used English during earlier budget sessions.Prabhakar said Assembly Rule 86 allows members to conduct proceedings in Tamil or English, or in both languages. He stressed that the focus should be on the intent and substance of what is being said rather than the language used.
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As Wilson remained visibly upset, Velu said there was no need for the finance minister to be angry and noted that Rajendran was a first-time MLA.PWD minister Aadhav Arjuna also said former finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan had faced a similar issue, but opposition parties had not raised objections at the time. The Speaker reiterated that MLAs were free to speak in Tamil and English and recalled that Jayalalithaa had allowed an MLA from Hosur to speak in Telugu in the assembly.
