Centre ‘sowing seeds of language war’, will not allow domination of Hindi: TN CM

Chennai, Feb 25 (PTI) DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday accused the Centre of ‘sowing the seeds of language war’ by thrusting Hindi upon the state; and said the domination of that language will not be allowed.

Though the state was not against any language in particular and would not come in the way of anyone desiring to learn any language, it was determined not to allow any other language to dominate and destroy the mother tongue Tamil, he said.

“This is the reason why we are adhering to the bilingual policy (of Tamil and English),” Stalin said in a letter addressed to his party workers.

Many states in India including the neighbouring states have realised the path laid down by Tamil Nadu on language policy and its firm stance, and they started to express their concerns, he claimed.

Assuring that the struggle against the domination of Hindi would continue until it was ended, Stalin said,”We are descendants of a movement with a principled army that sacrificed its life to protect Tamil.”

The DMK has a history of defending the mother tongue from Hindi through numerous sacrifices since 1965. In 1971, at the anti-Hindi conference organised by the DMK students’ wing in Coimbatore, he had stated that he was ready to make sacrifices.

“Opposing dominance and protecting the mother tongue is a feeling ingrained in the blood of DMK members. That feeling will not subside until the end of my life,” Stalin said.

Recalling his visit to Cuddalore on February 21 and 22, the Chief Minister said while addressing a parents-teachers conference, he had said that the state would not accept the National Education Policy (NEP) even if the Centre offered to give Rs 10,000 crore funds to Tamil Nadu. At this, a little girl from Cuddalore, Nanmukhi, had said, “What if the Union government does not provide funds? Then I will give it,” the CM said and added that the girl sent her savings of Rs 10,000.

Like her there were one crore young Nanmukhis in Tamil Nadu who were willing to defend their mother tongue, he said accusing the Union Government of sowing seeds of language war. “We are ready for it… we will not allow the domination of any other language,” Stalin said.

Meanwhile, the DMK members continued their agitation against the imposition of Hindi through the NEP. A few party cadres defaced the Hindi letters on the name board of the Ulundurpet railway station.

Reacting to the DMK protest, BJP state chief K Annamalai sought to know from the Chief Minister why the opportunity to learn the third language, provided to students of CBSE and Matriculation schools, was being denied to government school students.

“There is no ban on learning the third language. But if you want to learn, is Mr. Stalin saying that you should enroll your children in CBSE or Matriculation schools run by the DMK?” Annamalai asked in a post on the social media platform X.