Main bhi Thalaiva! Manohar Lal Khattar tries Tamil in Haryana and wins the internet
It's not every day that the chief minister of Haryana delivers a speech in nearly flawless Tamil. Watch ML Khattar speak Tamil during Pongal celebrations in his state.
In Short
- Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar wows crowd with Tamil speech
- Twitterati go ga-ga; CM says he learned language 40 years ago
- Isn't CM speaking Tamil better than many Tamil leaders?: SG Suryah
Even a politician as experienced as Manohar Lal Khattar probably isn't used to pausing for giddy applause after every line he utters.
But then again, it's not every day that the chief minister of Haryana delivers a speech in nearly flawless Tamil.
ML Khattar's address, posted on Twitter by BJP Tamil Nadu youth wing vice-president SG Suryah (and Khattar himself), came during Pongal celebrations in Haryana.
When he said he was delighted to be part of the bash, the applause that greeted his words wouldn't have been out of place in a Chennai theatre during a big movie release.
"This, too, is your home. This, too, is your country. I am there to make sure you have no problems," he told the crowd.
"Pongal O Pongal," ML Khattar said at the end of his speech.
"I was interested in learning Tamil, and had joined an institute to learn the language 40 years ago," ML Khattar said later in a tweet.
I was interested in learning Tamil, and had joined an Institute to learn the language 40 years ago.https://t.co/lJ1gmob2CX pic.twitter.com/hZjyfiw92x Manohar Lal (@mlkhattar) January 27, 2019
"Isn’t Haryana...Chief Minister ML Khattar reading/speaking Tamil better than many Tamil Leaders?' asked SG Suryah, who posted the full speech in three parts.
MUST WATCH: Haryana BJP CM @mlkhattar’s 5 minutes beautiful speech in Tamil during #Pongal Celebrations there. Tamil was 2nd official language of Haryana for close to 40 yrs till 2010 when Congress CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda removed Tamil & made Punjabi 2nd official language. (1) pic.twitter.com/FwzhXiA3SZ SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) January 29, 2019
Other Twitterati were equally enthused. Take a look.
CM ji, you speak Tamil better than many Tamilians. Amazing. JAGANNIWAS IYER (@jaganniwas) January 29, 2019
...superb...hope every other CM learns/speaks other vernaculars Chennaiite (@rkrishnan2911) January 29, 2019
Seriously, should the Tamil Nadu BJP consider roping Manohar Lal Khattar in for election campaigning?
At least one Twitter user thought about it!
Sir please extensively campaign in TN..Might help! Bharath Puttur (@bharathkp) January 29, 2019