DMK hits out at Centre over Hindi 'imposition'

The crux of the Tamil slogan, which involves figurative use of language, is a clarion call to the people to staunchly oppose imposition of Hindi and an assertion that there is no 'coward' in the state hinting that Hindi cannot be imposed on them.

Chennai: The ruling DMK on Sunday 'warned' the Centre against imposing Hindi saying the Tamil people still remembered the anti-Hindi agitation by late party patriarch M Karunanidhi, implying that they would not allow it to happen. The ruling party's mouthpiece 'Murasoli' in its edition today carried a well-known slogan of Karunanidhi (1924-2018) against foisting Hindi on people and captioned the write-up as 'Warning to the Union government.'

The crux of the Tamil slogan, which involves figurative use of language, is a clarion call to the people to staunchly oppose imposition of Hindi and an assertion that there is no 'coward' in the state hinting that Hindi cannot be imposed on them. According to the party organ, Karunanidhi as a 14-year old student marched on the streets of his native Tiruvarur in 1938 along with other students raising this slogan to oppose Hindi imposition.

The DMK Tamil daily said people still remembered Karunanidhi's rally and added, 'Do not forget it', which implied that people would hence not permit imposition of Hindi to happen in Tamil Nadu. Reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement on April 7 that Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English and not to local languages, DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin had said that it would wreck the nation's integrity. Presiding over the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee in Delhi, Shah had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided that the medium of running the government is in the official language and this would definitely increase the importance of Hindi.

PTI