CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday strongly denounced Union home minister Amit Shah’s remarks that Hindi must be finally accepted without opposition, even if the pace of acceptance is slow. Shah had made the remarks during the 38th meeting of the parliamentary committee on official language in New Delhi on Friday.
Taking strong exception to Shah’s views, the CM, in a tweet, criticised the union minister’s ‘audacious push’ for Hindi acceptance.“It’s a blatant attempt to subjugate non-Hindi speakers. Tamil Nadu rejects any form of Hindi hegemony and imposition as it is not a state which approves of such moves. Our language and heritage define us. We won’t be enslaved by Hindi. Many states like Karnataka and West Bengal have also been vehemently resisting Hindi imposition. Take heed to the growing resistance,” Stalin said.
The CM also warned that rekindling the embers of the 1965 anti-Hindi imposition agitations would be an unwise move. “Everyone knows about the ‘politics of pretence’ being adopted by the BJP leaders. They hail Tamil as an ancient language when they are in Tamil Nadu and they spit venom when they reach New Delhi,” Stalin said.
Minister for youth welfare and sports development Udhayanidhi Stalin too strongly condemned Amit Shah’s statement advocating compulsory acceptance of Hindi.“This undemocratic stance disregards the rich linguistic diversity of the Indian Union. Superficial praise for Tamil in Tamil Nadu, alongside imperialist pro-Hindi statements from North India, exposes BJP’s double standards,” the minister said.
Udhayanidhi Stalin also pointed out that Tamil Nadu has a history of resisting Hindi imposition and it will reject all autocratic moves. PMK founder S Ramadoss too flayed Shah’s remarks. “The union home minister’s statement does not show his confidence in the Hindi language. It reveals his hope for Hindi imposition. Efforts to impose Hindi will not succeed in the future as was the case in the past. If Amit Shah has so much confidence in the richness and strength of Hindi, why is he hesitating to declare all languages including Tamil listed under the eighth schedule of the Constitution as official languages? Let him do that and let the language which is rich in literature rule people’s hearts,” Ramadoss said.