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Don’t impose another linguistic war on us: Stalin

“In a country espousing the cause of unity in diversity, Tamil among the state languages should be treated equally. All languages should be awarded the status of official languages of the union government. Do not take a brutal stand contrary to it and impose another linguistic war on us by trying to make Hindi (learning) mandatory,” said Stalin.

Don’t impose another linguistic war on us: Stalin
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Chief Minister MK Stalin

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday cautioned the Union government not to impose another “language war” on Tamil Nadu by making Hindi (learning) compulsory for non-Hindi speakers.

Referring to the report submitted by Union Home Minister Amit Shah-led the Committee of Parliament on official languages that recommended Hindi as the mandatory medium of instruction in all technical and non-technical central institutions, including IITs and IIMs, Stalin said that all the languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution have equal rights.

“In a country espousing the cause of unity in diversity, Tamil among the state languages should be treated equally. All languages should be awarded the status of official languages of the union government. Do not take a brutal stand contrary to it and impose another linguistic war on us by trying to make Hindi (learning) mandatory,” said Stalin.

“Do not play with fire by taunting our mother tongue sentiment. I urge the union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give up the idea of making Hindi (learning) compulsory and safeguard the unity of the country,” added Stalin in a strongly worded statement issued in response to Amit Shah’s latest pro-Hindi push.

Division reduces non-Hindi speakers to second-class citizens

“The pride and strength of the Indian subcontinent is its plurality. The BJP’s attempt to destroy the fraternity of multilingual, multicultural and multireligious people to impose one language, religion, food and culture on the country will spoil the integrity of the nation,” the Chief Minister said.

Remarking that imposing an impractical idea (Hindi imposition) amounts to dividing Hindi speakers as citizens and reducing other language speakers to second-class citizens, the Chief Minister said, “It will not be accepted not just by Tamil Nadu, but our neighbouring states and others who respect their mother tongue.”

Questioning the need for making such recommendations to the President, Stalin said that why did the report propose replacing English and prioritizing Hindi in the competitive exams conducted for central government jobs. Claiming that the report also warns of action against officials not using Hindi, the Chief Minister said that the promotion of Hindi on the one hand and neglect of other languages on the other hand was unconstitutional.

Stating that the population of non-Hindi speakers was high in the nation and maximum teachers, staff and students in central institutions spread across the country hail from non-Hindi speaking states, Stalin said that each language has a speciality and English was made the link language to protect the unique cultural value and other Indian languages from Hindi dominance. He also advised the union government to make Tamil among the languages in the Eighth Schedule as official languages of the union government considering the scientific and technological advancements in the country.

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