'It is India, not Hindia', Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin tells Amit Shah

Taking objection to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement that Hindi unites the whole nation in a thread of unity as an official language, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday said the country remains India and not “Hindia” and asked the Union Government to accord the importance to all languages under the 8th Schedule that Hindi is given.

In a hard-hitting statement, the DMK President demanded that Hindi Diwas, celebrated on September 14, be renamed as “Indian Languages Day” after declaring all 22 languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution as official languages of the country.

“It is India. Not Hindi. Indian languages including Tamil should be declared as official languages of the Union Government,” Stalin said in a statement released by the DMK, adding that it was acceptable that Shah spoke high of Hindi on Hindi Diwas.

“But to say that one should learn Hindi to understand the culture and history (of India) is against the Unity in Diversity principle of India, which consists of people who speak different languages. India’s culture and history aren’t hidden in Hindi. Historians have pointed out that the Dravidian language family led by Tamil had spread across today’s India and beyond,” Stalin said.

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Historians and researchers want the history of India to be “rewritten” from the Southern part of the country to truly understand the culture and history of the country, Stalin said. It was nothing but a mere reflection of the “dominant” attitude of those governing in New Delhi to project Hindi as the “national language” by pushing Tamil and other languages with rich literature and culture.

“Tamil Nadu has a history of sacrificing lives for protecting our rich Tamil language,” Stalin said in reference to the 1965 anti-Hindi agitation. Hindi, Stalin said, isn’t India’s national language and it isn’t the only official language. “Hindi is the administrative language of India. English is also an administrative language,” he added.

Stalin also said several languages like Mythili, and Bhojpuri, which were spoken in northern India are almost facing extinction due to the domination of Hindi. India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru erected a “fence” to save languages like Tamil from Hindi domination by including English as an official language, Stalin said.

“That fence is still strong and that is the reason why Tamil has not been pushed to the side lines by the dominant languages…If Amit Shah is concerned about local languages, he should allot funds to languages like Tamil on par with Hindi and Sanskrit. But, the Union Government is hell bent on imposing Hindi through the National Education Policy,” Stalin said.

The Chief Minister said Shah should declare all 22 languages in the 8th Schedule as official and administrative languages of the Union Government. “After declaring the languages as official languages, I request you to change the name of Hindi Diwas to Indian Languages Day to strengthen culture and history,” Stalin said.

Both DMK and AIADMK who have ruled Tamil Nadu since 1967 are opposed to “Hindi imposition.” Tamil Nadu has been following the dual language policy of Tamil and English since the 1960s and has opposed every move to “impose Hindi” by successive governments at the Centre.