Shah’s Hindi ‘nonsense’ to divert attention: Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called Union home minister Amit Shah’s appeal for making Hindi as primary language as “nonsense.”

On his Facebook wall, he wrote the Sangh Parivar move was to divert attention from important issues the country was facing. “The people have identified this,” he said.

“(His) refusal to withdraw from the Hindi Agenda despite countrywide protests is a sign that the Sangh Parivar is opening a new battlefront in the name of language.”

On Saturday, the Hindi Day, the home minister had tweeted: “If one language can unite the country today, it is the widely-spoken Hindi language.”

“India is a country of different languages and every language has its own importance but it is very important to have a language which should become the identity of India in the world.”

Mr Vijayan pointed out that the nation recognised different languages and the Sangh Parivar should withdraw from the move to deviate from it. The notion that Hindi can unite the country is completely wrong. People of southern and northeastern states do not speak Hindi, said Mr Vijayan.

Hindi is not the mother tongue of a majority of Indians. It is recognised as the official language of India. There is no serious dispute in the country in the name of the language. No Indian citizen should feel that he is not Indian because he does not speak Hindi, he said.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala also lashed out at Mr Shah saying it would only help divide people.

“This is the agenda of the Sangh Parivar,” he said in a statement here.

“All languages have the same status. Hindi has no special status at all. The economy of our country is in the doldrums. This new love for Hindi is to divert attention from the real burning issues facing the country.”

CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and KPCC president Mullappally Ramacha-ndran also came out against Mr Shah’s suggestions while the BJP leaders said they were misinterpreting them.