Charging that the cartoon in the NCERT textbook demeaning the 1965 anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu has insulted late leaders like Periyar and Arignar Anna and martyrs of the language struggle who had spearheaded the stir, CM J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday urged the Centre to remove it at once.
Strongly condemning the cartoon that has hurt the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa said photographs of the past would have been appropriate to explain the Dravidian movement and the situation prevailing then. Though one such photograph is published in the lesson, the cartoon demeaning the anti-Hindi agitation had proved to be counter-productive.
Recalling the quote of Anna that “Tamils would never make others inferior and they will never be inferior to others,” she said the cartoon in the Political Science textbook of Class XII should be removed at once.
She recalled that the Dravidian movement had spearheaded an agitation against the then Central government’s move to make Hindi the sole official language. Opposing the imposition of Hindi, Anna had said: “We have to find a way to undo the folly to impose another language in lieu of Tamil.” Following the agitation, the Centre had promised that Hindi and English would continue as official languages.