CPM jumps on to the anti-Hindi bandwagon

CHENNAI: The CPI(M), little known for its anti-Hindi stance, has condemned the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee for Official Language saying it is against the federal structure of the Constitution. People speaking different languages are living in India and at present English and Hindi are the official languages of the Union government. “When demands are placed that all the languages in the eight schedule of the Constitution be declared as the official languages of the Centre, converting Hindi as the sole official language is against federalism and democracy, “party state secretary G.Ramakrishnan said.

He also said imposing any language would be counter productive and the Centre’s declaration would lead to another language war. “It is being stressed that mother-tongue education is necessary for scientific growth of human beings, ignoring mother-tongue in Central government education and jobs would led to boycott of mother-tongue”, Ramakrishnan said.

When a question for making Russian as the official language of Soviet Union arose, comrade V.I. Lenin had opposed privileges for one language and lashed out at the concept of an compulsory official language while writing in party organ Proletarskaya Pravda on January 18, 1914. But, Communist parties in India have rarely opposed the official language concept so far.

In a surprising statement, Ramakrishnan accused the BJP government at the Centre of trying to impose Hindi compulsorily and said the approval of the President for the recommendations of the committee that Union ministers knowing Hindi should speak only in that language in Parliament is only the approval of the centre. He also opposed the recommendation to make Hindi compulsory in CBSE and Kendra Vidyalayas, Hindi medium in Universities and issuing half of the Union government advertisements in Hindi. VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalvan too charged the centre with imposing Hindi and said it would endanger India’s integrity. Urging the Union government to abandon its moves, he warned of another anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu.