Tamil Nadu: CM Stalin warns against imposing Hindi

Tamil Nadu CM slams the reported recommendation of panel to use Hindi as a medium of instruction in IITs, IIMs and Central universities (in Hindi-speaking States and regional languages in other parts); he says ‘do not attempt to make Hindi mandatory and force another language war on us. Do not try to test the fire of our mother language affinity’

Slamming the reported recommendation of a Parliamentary Committee on Official Language to use Hindi as a medium of instruction in IITs, IIMs and Central universities (in Hindi-speaking States and regional languages in other parts), Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday cautioned the Union government against forcing another language war by imposing Hindi.

"All [State] languages should be elevated into official languages of the Union government. Do not take a totally opposite position and attempt to make Hindi mandatory and force another language war on us. Do not try to test the fire of our mother language affinity," Mr. Stalin said in a three-page statement.

Urging the Narendra Modi-led Union government to drop the proposal to make Hindi mandatory and uphold the flame of Indian unity, he charged that forcing an "impractical" proposal would only portray as if Hindi-speaking population alone were Indian citizens and others were second-class citizens.

"Not only Tamil Nadu but any State which upholds its mother tongue would not accept it," he said, adding a majority of teachers, officers and students in Central educational institutions were from States that did not speak Hindi.

The "persistent actions" of the Union government to destroy the brotherhood between various communities by forcing the idea of 'One Nation' (in the context of uniformity) would only pose a threat to integration, said Mr. Stalin quoting various recommendations of the panel, as reported in a section of the media, and opposed them. He said all 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution were equal and asked, "while so, where is the emergency or the necessity for the panel led by [Home Minister] Mr. Amit Shah to make only Hindi as the medium of instruction?"

Mr. Stalin also questioned a recommendation to remove English as one of the languages in the recruitment for jobs in the Central services. Treating Hindi and other languages differently amounted to partiality, he pointed out and contended that it would pose a threat to the country’s unity. The population of those who do not speak Hindi was more than that of those who speak Hindi, Mr. Stalin said.

Recalling the DMK's campaign since 1957 to protect regional languages, including Tamil, Mr. Stalin pointed out that then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had assured that English would remain as a language for official communication till such time the non-Hindi speakers desired.