Tamil conference held at Chennai in 1968. DMK, which claimed to be a patron of the Tamil language, organized the conference at a huge cost and with great fanfare. Periyar felt such an extravaganza was unnecessary for the state: Why do we need a conference for Tamil? Why not a conference for onions? Our improvement and welfare has nothing to do with speaking in chaste Tamil. We should use a mixture of English and Tamil while speaking.
