New Delhi: A Tamil Nadu minister has appealed to the Union home minister to take steps to make Tamil an official language of the Union government, make it compulsory in government-run Kendriya Vidyalaya schools, and allot funds to put on the same developmental pedestal as Sanskrit.Tamil Nadu higher education minister K. Ponmudy’s demand to Amit Shah on November 12 also included the necessity to fill vacant posts of Tamil teachers.“I urge him [the Union Home Minister] that Tamil be made a compulsory language in the Union government-run Kendriya Vidyalaya Schools and also fill up posts of Tamil professors in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, which have been vacant for several years,” Ponmudy said in a statement.Ponmudy’s statement came hours after Shah asked the Tamil Nadu government to impart technical education in Tamil. The Tamil Nadu minister said that such an initiative was already implemented by the DMK in the state 12 years ago.“Kalaignar [a Tamil term meaning ‘artist’, used to refer to late CM M. Karunanidhi] already implemented it in 2010 during the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime. Tamil Nadu became the first state in the country to introduce civil and mechanical courses in Tamil at Anna University. It is still in practice even in colleges affiliated to that University,” Ponmudy said.Measures were underway to have engineering and computer science courses in Tamil, he said.On medical education, he said the government was now involved in introducing MBBS courses in Tamil and a committee of three professors was formed in that regard. “I request funds for the development of Tamil language on par with Sanskrit and take steps to make Tamil the official language in Central government offices,” Ponmudy said.Shah’s most recent statement notwithstanding, the southern states have mounted a pushback against the Union government’s attempts to impose Hindi as the language of official communication across the country.Last month, Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raise his objections against the recent recommendations made by the Committee of Parliament on Official Language headed by home minister Shah that the medium of instruction in all technical or non-technical educational institutions should mandatorily be Hindi and other local languages.The DMK chief, in his letter, described the committee’s recommendations – which include phasing out English – as being “against the federal principles of our Constitution” and that they would “only harm the multi-lingual fabric of our nation”.Earlier this year, Stalin also wrote to Modi and then Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana requesting Tamil to be declared the official language of Madras high court. (With PTI inputs)