Is it India or Hindi-a? India stands for unity in diversity Says MK Stalin
NEW DELHI/CHENNAI : Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s appeal to unify India with the country’s most widely-spoken language, Hindi, was met with sharp criticism from the southern states on Saturday.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin and former Karnataka chief ministers Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy came down heavily on Shah for pitching for his “one nation, one language” pitch on the occasion of Hindi Diwas.Tamil Nadu’s Leader of Opposition MK Stalin has criticised Home
Minister Amit Shah for his assertion that Hindi is “the one language marking (India’s) identity globally”, declaring “this is India, not Hindia”. The DMK leader warned the centre of another “language war” unless Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a clarification.
On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday stressed on the need to have a unifying language that becomes a mark of India’s identity in the world and keeps “foreign languages” from finding a place in the country.
“Though I believe that the diversity of languages and dialects is one of the biggest strengths of India, there is a need for our country to have one language, so that foreign languages don’t find a place.
This is why our freedom fighters envisioned Hindi as ‘Raj bhasha’,” Shah said in his address at a Hindi Diwas programme. Shah said that any nation that abandons its language cannot preserve its culture and consequently loses its existence.
Several pro-Kannada organisations, including Karnataka Ranadheera Pade, also held protest marches in Bengaluru against Hindi Diwas. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi should issue a clarification on Amit shah’s statement. The BJP-led government is trying to destroy this and go against it. The home minister should withdraw his statement,” said Stalin.
Earlier in June, responding to the suggestion of a three-language formula for schools in Tamil Nadu, the DMK chief had said that “Hindi is not in the blood of the people of Tamil Nadu”.“We have always stood against the imposition of Hindi and have raised our voices against the same.
The DMK would take a decision on the ways and means to oppose Shah’s stand at a high-level party meet to be held on September 16, Stalin said. Pluralism is India’s biggest strength and unity in diversity is the nation’s cultural identity, Stalin said, claiming that the BJP government is taking steps to ‘erase’ such an identity since assuming office at the Centre.
Shah’s Hindi pitch appeared to be an attempt to make non-Hindi speaking people “second class citizens,” he added. While all languages in the Constitution’s Eighth Schedule should be nurtured, picking only Hindi for promotion will impinge national integrity and it is both anguishing and condemnable, the DMK chief alleged.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader and Tamil Nadu Culture Minister K Pandiarajan said, If the Centre imposes Hindi unilaterally, there will only be (adverse) reaction and no support. “Only about 45% of the people speak Hindi and even today it is not spoken by a majority of the people,” he said, adding the Tamil Nadu government has never toed the line that Hindi could be the link language.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief Vaiko said if India has to be a country of Hindi alone, then only Hindi-speaking states would be part of it and not several other regions like Tamil Nadu and the northeast.
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder-leader S Ramadoss dubbed Shah’s remark as flawed and said Hindi must not be “imposed.””Never can Hindi be India’s identity globally….is it not condemnable to try to usurp the identities of other languages to make Hindi India’s global identity,” Ramadoss said in a tweet.
The PMK and the BJP were part of the AIADMK alliance in Tamil Nadu for the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader TTV Dhinakaran said Shah’s views were not acceptable. Urging him to retract his comments, Dhinakaran said efforts to “thrust Hindi” would only sow the seeds of hatred among people.
School Education Minister and veteran AIADMK leader KA Sengottaiyan said Chief Minister K Palaniswami had categorically stated only the two-language formula of Tamil and English would be followed in the state. It does not have central government-run Navodaya Vidyalaya schools to avoid ‘imposition’ of Hindi, he said.
Senior AIADMK leader and Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said sticking to the two-language norm was the unanimous stand of his party and it would be continued. “This is our view. No language not liked by the people will be accepted,” he said, recalling the anti-Hindi agitations of 1965.
The Congress-led government, which “thrust Hindi,” was dislodged from power in 1967 state assembly elections and could not return to power in Tamil Nadu since then, he said. The Karnataka Congress also slammed Shah, accusing the RSS of trying to push its “sinister hidden agenda” to divide people.
(With Inputs from Chennai ).
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