DMK president M. Karunanidhi has asked the Tamil Nadu government to help the efforts of Tamil community in the United States to set up a Harvard Tamil Chair. This is following the efforts of two NRI doctors, Janakiraman and Thirugnanasambandam, who have received approval from the Harvard University to set up the Chair.

The total funding needed reportedly amounts to about six million dollars, and the two doctors have promised to rake in a million dollars themselves. They are reaching out to Tamil community and the government of Tamil Nadu to collect more money.

“There are two chairs for Ukraine language spoken only by 30 million people and a chair for Celtic language spoken by 15 million people. Besides, there are chairs for Hebrew and Sanskrit. Should not there be a chair for Tamil, a classical language spoken by 80 million people?” Karunanidhi asked in a statement.

Deccan Chronicle reports that one of the two NRI doctors is a relative of DMK leader K Anbazhagan.

Harvard University is one of the oldest and prestigious educational institutions in the US. The Tamil Chair is expected to be set up over the next two years.