Reiterating the AIADMK’s commitment to the two-language policy put forth by former Chief Minister C. N. Annadurai, AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam on Tuesday again accused the ruling DMK of adopting dual standards on the usage of Hindi in the State.
Responding to the Minister for Tamil Official Language Thangam Thennarasu’s rejoinder to his charge against the DMK, Mr. Panneerselvam said the Minister’s clarification only made it clear that the ruling party did not have an answer for his criticism on the language issue.
The Minister had pointed out Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had issued a statement opposing the remarks made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah over Hindi. However, Mr. Panneerselvam said words were not sufficient but the DMK needed to demonstrate it through actions.
Recalling an incident on September 16, 2020, when Mr. Stalin as the then Leader of the Opposition opposing usage of Hindi in one of the books tabled in the Assembly, Mr. Panneerselvam said now Mr. Stalin’s statements in the House were being translated in Hindi by the DMK government.
“A different stand then and another stand now. Probably, the Minister has forgotten that incident,” Mr. Panneerselvam said. As for the Minister’s criticism of AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s silence on Mr. Shah’s comments, Mr. Panneerselvam maintained that he himself issued a statement.
“Perarignar Anna’s [former CM C.N. Annadurai] stand for two-language policy is the stand of the AIADMK. We made that clear when the National Education Policy was introduced. So, our stand is the same,” Mr. Panneerselvam said.
