Kashi Tamil sangamam 4.0: A dialogue India needs
As India navigates a moment of renewed cultural assertion and rising linguistic anxieties, the Kashi Tamil Sangamam (KTS) returns at precisely the right moment. Its fourth edition, beginning in December 2025, arrives at a time when debates about regional identity, linguistic pride and national integration have become sharper, sometimes even polarising. In such a context, KTS stands out not merely as a festival, but as a vital civilisational bridge, reminding us that India’s unity is an enduring cultural inheritance.
A Counter-Current in Divisive Times
The past few years have seen language enter public discourse more forcefully, often sparking heated debates over recruitment rules, competitive exams, mediums of instruction and digital platforms. Social media frequently amplifies these issues into regional flashpoints, creating a misleading impression of a North-South cultural clash. This narrative, while emotionally charged, ignores the centuries of dialogue, migration, learning and exchanges that have shaped our civilisation. KTS serves as a powerful counter-current to this polarisation by demonstrating that the Tamil and Hindi-speaking regions do not stand in contrast, but rather in constant conversation and agreement.
A Vision Rooted in Continuity
Conceptualised under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and organised by the Ministry of Education, with IIT Madras and BHU as knowledge partners, KTS aligns perfectly with the ethos of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat. Far from being merely symbolic, it revives a civilisational relationship between Tamil Nadu and Kashi, two ancient centres of learning whose interactions have shaped Indian thought for millennia. The corridor between the South and Kashi is not a modern creation; it has long been a home for Tamil poets, saints and scholars. It was here in Varanasi that Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi found his intellectual awakening and where Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a towering Tamil philosopher, led Banaras Hindu University. This living history challenges simplified binaries about regional isolation.
Why Language Matters Now
Language is once again central to India’s social discourse. With increased interstate migration, multilingual workplaces, digital classrooms and a growing national labour market, linguistic literacy is no longer optional. While state-level identity politics has sharpened linguistic boundaries, KTS’s renewed focus, “Learn Tamil - Tamil Karkalam”, comes as a timely intervention. Recognising Tamil as a national treasure rather than a regional language is crucial for India’s emotional integration — an approach that extends to all Indian languages. Celebrating one language does not make another smaller, but instead enriches the entire national linguistic ecosystem.
KTS 4.0 places this exchange at the centre of cultural unity, encouraging youth, students, educators and scholars to treat Tamil, Hindi, Sanskrit, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali and all Indian languages as relatives within one Bharatiya Bhasha family.
KTS’s key contribution is its ability to humanise history, enabling participants to rediscover shared civilisational roots through methods such as cultural immersions, seminars, poetry recitals, temple visits and academic interactions. It reminds us that Siddha and Ayurveda evolved through cross-lingual knowledge sharing and that Tamil grammar’s ancient roots converse deeply with Panini’s linguistic tradition. Furthermore, it highlights how temple architecture, music, ritual practices and storytelling traditions between the North and South overlap far more than they differ.
The Needs of a Changing India
India today is far more mobile than ever before. Students from Tamil Nadu attend universities in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, while Hindi-speaking students pursue technology, medicine and the arts in Coimbatore, Chennai and Madurai. Driven by the economy’s growing demand for multilingual skillsets, building cultural empathy is now a national necessity. KTS thus stands as a policy-relevant initiative that strengthens national cohesion precisely when identity markers are sharp and sensitivities even sharper.
The Sangamam challenges the flawed assumption that unity requires sameness, and instead calls for unity through understanding. Each edition of KTS proves that genuine dialogue reduces mistrust, dismantles stereotypes and builds emotional bridges. As KTS 4.0 is set to begin, it drives home the key message that celebrating Tamil enriches all of India, learning from others strengthens one’s own identity, and our languages are not competing voices, but harmonising notes in the Indian symphony.
The writer is Chairman, Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti; views are personal
