Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday condemned Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his speech at the Committee of Parliament on Official Language on Friday, in which Mr. Shah had said that Hindi must be finally accepted without opposition.
Mr. Shah had further said that Hindi was not in competition with local languages and that the nation would be empowered by promoting all Indian languages.
Mr. Stalin, in a message on social media, said he strongly denounced Mr. Shah’s “audacious push” for Hindi acceptance. It was a blatant attempt to subjugate non-Hindi speakers. “Tamil Nadu rejects any form of Hindi hegemony and imposition. Our language and heritage define us - we won’t be enslaved by Hindi,” he said.
The CM also said many States, including Karnataka and West Bengal have been vehemently resisting Hindi imposition. Urging Mr. Shah to heed this growing resistance, he said, “Igniting the embers of the ‘1965 Anti-Hindi Imposition Agitations’ would be an unwise move”.
