Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai: Accusing the BJP-led Union government of imposing languages and meting out financial injustice to states by treating the latter as its vassal, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday declared that he would soon make an announcement that will uphold the rights of states and protect the native Tamil language.
In his response to a special calling attention motion on the two language policy in the Assembly, Stalin asserted that there was no “rethink” on the two-language formula of Tamil and English if the state was to forego funds from the Union government and termed the language policy as the “guiding principle” and “vision” of the dispensation led by him.
“…no matter the amount of criticism aimed at us, we will not compromise on this vital principle; we will not abandon it. Even if the Centre gives Rs 10,000 crores, we won’t accept a three-language formula. This is not about money, but about the ethnicity of Tamils. It is about protecting the young generation of Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said.
Legislators from all political parties, except the BJP, participated in the debate and asked the Tamil Nadu government to ensure that the decades-long two-language formula is not tampered with. Principal opposition, AIADMK, too pledged its support to the DMK on the sensitive issue which strikes a chord with the common man.
Pointing to AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami’s visit to New Delhi, Stalin asked the party MLAs to ask their leader to raise the issue with the “concerned” in the Union government.
Recalling the DMK government led by then Chief Minister C N Annadurai moving a resolution in the Assembly in 1968 to adopt a two-language policy, Stalin said it was Tamil and English that put the state on the world map for over half-a-century.
“We are not slaves to mortgage our ethnic identity just for receiving funds from them (Centre). If there are obstacles, we will break them. Social justice and the protection of Tamil language are the two eyes of this government,” the Chief Minister added.
Maintaining that there was no hindrance for anyone to learn any number of languages, Stalin said Tamil Nadu follows a two-language formula only to ensure that no dominant language that poses threat to our mother tongue Tamil is given a chance here.
“We hold on to the bilingual policy because it is a fact that if we allow another language to be imposed, the local language will disappear. They want to dominate the state through language imposition. They impose language and mete out financial injustices because they consider the states as their vassal states,” Stalin said.
“Only by ensuring State Autonomy and upholding states’ rights, we can protect Tamil language and elevate it to a new level. I will soon make an announcement to this effect,” he added.
Stalin’s statement is the latest attack against the BJP in the last one week, which saw the Tamil Nadu government mounting efforts to exert pressure on the Union Government to ensure fair delimitation for Southern states.