COIMBATORE: A DMK camp follower died of self-immolation on Saturday in Thazhaiyur near Mettur in Salem district.
85-year-old Thangavel, who was a farmer and also the ex-organiser of DMK's farmer's wing, took the extreme step to protest against 'Hindi imposition,' police said.
Thangavel arrived at the party office in the morning. He raised slogans against 'Hindi imposition' before dousing himself with petrol. He then struck a matchstick and allowed himself to be consumed by flames.
Though the party workers and the public tried to save him, Thangavel died on the spot, reports said.
Police recovered a note addressed to the Centre that read "there is no need for imposing Hindi when there is the Tamil language.
Before dying, Thangavel has reportedly written a letter addressed to the party secretary of the local unit suggesting that the imposition of Hindi would affect the lives of students in the state.
Chief Minister M K Stalin condoled the death. Stalin said he is pained by the death of the former party functionary.
Stalin said the party will continue to resist the imposition of Hindi in a democratic way. Already the party has lost several lives over the issue. This should not continue, he said.
Stalin was recalling the anti-Hindi agitations spearheaded by the party in the late 1930s which lasted till 1940. The DMK has taken up agitations over the issue at regular intervals after that including in the years 1986 and 2014,
Stalin requested party cadres not to resort to such extreme steps as a way of protest.
The DMK and its allies have denounced the Centre's alleged move to thrust Hindi upon the people of the state after the Committee of Parliament on Official Language headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah recommended that the medium of instruction should mandatorily be Hindi in all technical or non-technical educational institutions including central universities.
DMK youth wing secretary and CM MK Stalin' son Udayanidhi Stalin had warned that the party would stage a protest against the BJP-led Centre in the national capital if Hindi is thrust upon the state.
While leading a protest against the Centre over this issue, the DMK MLA said the only response from Tamil Nadu to the Centre that sought to impose Hindi was: “Get lost. We do not know Hindi (Hindi Theiryathu Poda).”
(With inputs from PTI)