CHENNAI: To highlight the DMK’s opposition to Hindi imposition and to strengthen its fight against the allegedly adamant move of the Union government to replace English with Hindi in official communication, party organ Murasoli on Sunday carried a write-up with DMK patriarch and former chief minister M Karunanidhi’s famous statement against Hindi imposition, and said Tamilians still remember his words.
The Murasoli write-up, which included a “warning” to the Union government over the language row, came a day after DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin condemned the remarks of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who said Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English and not to local languages.
The newspaper carried Karunanidhi’s poem from the late 1930s under the title ‘Warning to the Union government’. The piece, involving figurative language, is a call to staunchly oppose the imposition of Hindi, and an assertion that there are no “cowards” in the State.
It may be recalled that Karunanidhi had spoken about the poem several times, recalling how as a 14-year-old student he wrote it and marched on the streets of his native Tiruvarur in 1938 along with other students, raising slogans to oppose the imposition of Hindi.
The DMK Tamil daily said people still remembered Karunanidhi’s rally, and added, “Do not forget this.”
The rift between the DMK and the Union government has been growing day by day due to various issues. DMK Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson moved a private bill to fix a time frame for the Governor of the State to giving his assent or send back legislations adopted by the State government.
In another incident, DMK’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha TR Baalu last week issued a special motion against the Governor of Tamil Nadu, who has been sitting on more than seven bills of the State government, including the one pertaining to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
‘There are no cowards in Tamil Nadu’
The Murasoli write-up published on Sunday carried Karunanidhi’s poem from the late 1930s under the title ‘Warning to the Union government’. The piece, involving figurative language, is a call to staunchly oppose the imposition of Hindi, and an assertion that there are no “cowards” in the State