Don't say 'Tamil' again: Stalin tells Modi

CHENNAI: The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had no moral right to even utter the word ‘Tamil’ hereafter and the BJP’s audacious bid to supplant Tamil identify with Hindi would be opposed resolutely, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Friday, sounding the bugle for another anti-Hindi agitation.

The day after Modi referred repeatedly to the DMK in a disparaging manner, while replying to the no-confidence motion against his government in Parliament, Stalin tweeted: ‘In the crucible of history, Tamil Nadu and DMK have emerged as the vanguards against such oppressive overtones.’

Referring to what he called the audacious attempt by the Union BJP Government to temper with the essence of India’s diversity through a sweeping overhaul – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill – he said that the move reeked of linguistic imperialism.

‘From the anti-Hindi agitations to safeguarding our linguistic identity, we have withstood the storm of Hindi imposition before and we shall do it again with unyielding determination,’ he said, adding: ‘The fire of resistance against Hindi colonialism is ablaze once more.’

The DMK president’s strident stand against Hindi imposition also came in the wake of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lamenting that there was a practice of not allowing the study of Hindi and Sanskrit in Tamil Nadu in the name of opposing ‘Hindi imposition.’

Her tweet, You have every right to develop the Tamil language but you don’t have the right to prevent those willing to learn Hindi or Sanskrit, however, drew an immediate response from singer Chinmayi Sripaada, who said: There is actual data to establish that the highest number of Hindi learners are in Tamil Nadu.

‘One can learn whichever language they wish to in Chennai/ Tamil Nadu,’ Sripaada said, wondering, ‘Why can’t people speak what they want, eat what they want? Worship whomsoever they want or not?’

Another senior journalist said that at Seethalakshmi Ramaswamy College in Trichy, where Sitharaman studied during 1977-80, Hindi was offered as a second language with a scholarship. ‘In Savithri Vidyasala School which comes under the same management Sanskrit was taught. Was she misleading the House yesterday,?’ he asked.

Many others, too, came out with personal stories of learning Hindi in schools in the State, debunking the Union Finance Minister’s claim and explaining that Hindi has been taught through Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha for a long time.