CHENNAI: Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has emphasised the need for Tamil Nadu and Kerala to come together to safeguard their respective language and culture from outside influences such as the imposition of Hindi
Addressing a session titled ‘Literary and Linguistic Ethos in Dravidian Politics’ at the Art and Literature Festival of the Malayala Manorama daily in Kozhikode in Kerala, Udhayanidhi highlighted the importance of preserving regional language, and equated NEET to the alleged Sanskritisation of medical education a century ago, which created barriers for students from rural and marginalised communities aspiring to study medicine.
He said the south Indian film industries in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada have flourished because these states have resisted the influence of Hindi in their cinematic landscape, whereas the North Indian film industry only made Hindi films, forcing other regional languages to take a backseat.
Udhayanidhi also spoke of how leaders from the Dravidian movement, including former chief ministers CN Annadurai and M Karunanidhi, transformed Tamil cinema dialogues to resonate with the ethos of common man and preserve cultural identity. “Our leaders harnessed literature to connect with the masses...their speeches infused literary references and made the political philosophy of the Dravidian movement easily understandable by the masses,” he said.
He underscored the importance of resisting language imposition, stating, “If we do not protect our language, Hindi will overtake our culture and erode our identity. That’s why the Dravidian movement opposed the imposition of Hindi. By this, many regional languages were protected. There’s no personal opposition to Hindi itself.”
He noted both Kerala and Tamil Nadu have a deep love for their unique cultures and face similar challenges from the BJP. According to Udhayanidhi, the BJP is promoting a vision of “one nation, one election, one culture, one language, one food, one dress code, and one religion” across India.
He called for unity among all states to protect their individual languages, cultures, and literature against this kind of influence, especially from the BJP which he described as a “fascist force”.
(With inputs from PTI)