Oppn walks out over Hindi imposition issue

DMK leader Duraimurugan demanded the state government to pass a resolution insisting the Centre to withdraw the recent controversial circular that restricts the applicants to take up postal exams, not in regional languages.

Tiruchuli DMK MLA Thangam Thennarasu raised the issue and demanded a special discussion on the subject to protect the state’s linguistic rights. “By imposing Hindi, the Centre continues to do injustice to youngsters in south India. The Centre has been amending the rules to hold the exam only in Hindi and English and this is a clear attempt to snatch the job opportunities of Tamils,” Thennarasu said in the Assembly.

DMK deputy leader in the House Duraimurugan said “imposition” of Hindi was the issue and demanded that a resolution be adopted in the Assembly to urge the Centre to withdraw the circular. The DMK earlier demanded a similar resolution against the Centre for rejecting the NEET Bills adopted by the state government.

Responding to the issue, Minister for Personnel and Administrative Reforms D Jayakumar said the Centre’s decision to hold the exam in two languages were taken up at the national level, but the state government is clear with its dual-language policy that follows Tamil and English. Both the AIADMK and DMK should take up this issue in the Parliament, Jayakumar said.

Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said the government could take a stand based on the Centre’s decision on this matter after it was raised in Parliament by both the DMK and the AIADMK.

DMK leader Duraimurugan said that that the issue is serious. We insisted that state Assembly which has 232 MLAs should pass a resolution condemning the Centre, but there is no emotion-driven action from the AIADMK. Further, the CM and AIADMK Ministers are belittling our plea to pass a resolution on this subject. Left with no option, we have a staged a walkout, Duraimurugan told reporters after coming out.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami also spoke on the subject and said that the DMK always wanted to walkout from the Assembly. Today’s walkout is one such attempt. “People elected the DMK to Lok Sabha only to resolve issues in Parliament, but what is the point in raising the issue here. AIADMK is also against Hindi imposition, Palaniswami said.

Law Minister CVe Shanmugam said that the objective of the DMK was to create a rift between the state and the Centre, but such tactics will not work.