Anbumani Ramadoss was the first minister to use Tamil in Lok Sabha: PMK

CHENNAI: PMK, an ally of NDA, today welcomed a BJP Minister's reply in Tamil to a question in Parliament, but claimed its leader Anbumani Ramadoss was the first Union Minister in recent years to have used the regional language.

A day after Union Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman replied in Tamil in Lok Sabha, believed to be the first time, PMK said it was a 'joyous occasion'.

"We intend to bring to your notice that PMK's Anbumani Ramadoss, as Union Minister for Health, was the first Minister in the recent times to reply in Tamil (in Parliament)," the party said in a press release.

To buttress its claim, the party also released a screenshot of the question rasied by then Tenkasi CPI MP, M Appadurai, from the Lok Sabha website where an asterisk mark against Ramadoss' reply states as 'Original in Tamil.'

The reply given by Ramadoss on March 19, 2008 pertains to Appadurai's supplementary on smoking ban and printing "Smoking is Injurious to Health" lines on cigarette and bidi packs besides other tobacco products.

The party said Ramadoss, presently a Lok Sabha member representing Dharmapuri, answered another supplementary question from Appadurai also in Tamil, regarding prevention of liquor advertisements.

Sitharaman had yesterday received the chair's permission to speak in Tamil after AIADMK member T Radhakrishnan raised the matter of Chinese crackers being brought illegally into India harming the domestic industry in Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu.