CHENNAI: Arguing that the Tamil ethnicity and the Tamil language can be protected only by strengthening State autonomy and firmly establishing State’s rights, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday said in the Assembly that an announcement in this regard will be made soon.
Responding to a special mention about the two-language policy during the zero hour, the CM alleged that the present government at the Centre is trying to dominate states, their languages and the ethnic groups by imposing Hindi.
“There is a need to put a decisive end to this,” he said.
Stalin further alleged that the Union government is meting out injustice regarding allocation of funds and imposing a language because they think of the states as vassals.
“We are therefore under compulsion now to take the most appropriate steps to protect the federal nature of India and to win over States’ autonomy,” he asserted, before stating that an announcement in this regard would be made soon.
He said leaders of all political parties except the BJP supported the two-language policy, which is in force in Tamil Nadu for around six decades.
Though BJP MLAs Vanathi Srinivasan and C Saraswathi were present throughout the discussions, they did not counter the charges levelled by leaders of other political parties about the union government regarding its three-language policy.
Pointing out that the Deputy Leader of Opposition and AIADMK MLA RB Udhayakumar has assured that his party would stand united on the two-language policy, the CM said that the Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami has flown to New Delhi and that there was information about who he was meeting there.
“I request him (EPS) to exert pressure on the two-language policy when the meeting takes place," the CM said.
There were reports that EPS is meeting Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah in Delhi on Tuesday.
He said Tamil Nadu government is fully concurring with the views of the members of the House on the two-language policy, which he said is equivalent to the lives of the people of Tamil Nadu.
"Tamil and English will continue to be official languages of Tamil Nadu. There will be no change in this since it is not only the language policy but also our guiding principle. We will neither compromise nor deviate from this, irrespective of criticisms that arise on this issue," he said.
Recalling his assurance that he would not accept the three-language policy even if the State has to lose Rs.10,000 crore, Stalin reiterated that this was not an issue about funds, but about protecting Tamil, Tamil ethnicity, the students of Tamil Nadu and the younger generation.
He was referring to the Union government’s withholding of Rs 2,152 crore funds it was supposed to release for 2024-25 as its share for the Samagra Shiksha scheme that funds various aspects of school education.
The Union government has said that the funds would be released only if Tamil Nadu agrees to implement PM SHRI scheme, along with the National Education Policy and the three-language formula.
“We are not bonded labourers to mortgage the pride of our race just because the union government did not give us funds. If there are stumbling blocks, we have the courage to overcome them. As far as this government is concerned, social justice and protection of Tamil language are like our two eyes."
The CM also recalled that on January 23, 1968, the then Chief Minister and DMK founder CN Annadurai moved the resolution on the two-language policy which asserted that the House would not accept the Central government's scheme to impose Hindi.
Describing this resolution as a gift to Tamil Nadu from the leader, Stalin said, "This is not just our policy. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, this is our law. This two-language policy has been nurturing the State for half a century. We are not against any other language but we say these two languages are enough for us."
"We don't oppose anyone in learning any other language. At the same time, we don't allow any language attempt to crush Tamil and hence, we follow the two-language policy," he added.
The CM also said neighbouring States and even many other States have started realising that the path shown by Tamil Nadu on language policy and its firm conviction on the issue are correct.
"We cling to the two-language policy firmly since historically we have experienced that if we allow imposition of another language, it would devour our language. Imposing Hindi will not only be an imposition of a language but will be the destroying of our culture. That is why we are firm on the two-language policy," he added.
