'Don’t commit the same mistake', Stalin warns BJP on Amit Shah’s Hindi remark

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday fumed at Union Home Minister Amit Shah for asking people of different states to communicate with each other in the "language of India", saying his statement is an act that “will hurt the unity of India” and warned the BJP not to “commit the same mistake.

In a series of tweets in Tamil, Stalin accused the BJP of “eroding the diversity of India” through statements like the one Shah made on Thursday at the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee.

“Union Home Minister Amit Shah asking people to use Hindi instead of English is an act that will hurt the unity of India. The BJP continues to engage with its job of eroding the diversity of India. Does Amit Shah think only Hindi-speaking states are enough and other Indian states are not needed?” Stalin asked.

Read | It is imposition: DMK, PMK on Amit Shah’s statement on Hindi

“One language will not aid unity. And uniformity does not breed unity. You (BJP) are committing the same mistake. You will never succeed,” the CM added.

Stalin was responding to a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs that quoted Shah as saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided that the medium of running the government is the official language, and this will definitely increase the importance of Hindi.

“Now the time has come to make the official language an important part of the unity of the country. When citizens of States who speak other languages communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India,” Shah had said on Thursday.

Shah’s statement led to intense criticism on Tamil Twitter with many “reminding” the Home Minister that Hindi is “just one of the official languages” of India. DMK, which was at the forefront of the anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu in the 1960s which catapulted it to power, and other parties like AIADMK have been opposing the “imposition of Hindi” for the past several decades.

Stalin’s half-sister and DMK women’s wing secretary, Kanimozhi, too opposed Shah’s comments by posting a terse counter on Twitter.

“Imposing a link language will not help unite the country but only help split. Union Government and Union Ministers should learn the history and sacrifices of the anti-Hindi agitation,” Kanimozhi wrote.

In a series of tweets, PMK founder S Ramadoss said Shah’s statement was shocking. “The meaning of his statement is that Hindi will be imposed on states. (Jawaharlal) Nehru accepted the demands of the non-Hindi speaking states and allowed English to continue as the link language,” he said.

If only an Indian language can be the “link language” only Tamil, being the oldest language, ticks the box, he said, adding that since Tamil Nadu does not believe in “imposition of any language”, the political parties demand all languages listed under the eighth schedule of Constitution be declared as official languages.

Shah’s statement also comes close on the heels of Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi “indirectly” batting for the introduction of Hindi in the state that has consistently opposed the language for decades together.

In his Republic Day message, Ravi had stressed that students from Tamil Nadu also learn other Indian languages like students in other states.

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