'Demanding linguistic equality is not chauvinism': Tamil Nadu CM Stalin escalates attack on Centre over language row

Chennai: Keeping up heat on the BJP on the language issue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said demanding linguistic equality was “not chauvinism”, while asserting that the topic of mother tongue was like a “hornets’ nest” and it was dangerous to touch it.

Stalin also said the very people who glorify Nathuram Godse’s ideology (RSS and BJP) have the audacity to question the patriotism of DMK and its government that contributed the highest amount of funds during the Chinese Aggression, Bangladesh Liberation War, and Kargil War, while their “ideological forefather” is the one who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

Referring to people who brand the DMK cadre as anti-nationals and chauvinists for demanding the rightful place for Tamil in the state, Stalin said he was only reminded of the famous quote, “When you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression."

“Demanding Linguistic Equality is not chauvinism. Do you want to know what Chauvinism looks like? Chauvinism is naming the three criminal laws that govern 140 crore citizens in a language that Tamils cannot even pronounce or comprehend by reading,” Stalin said, referring to the Hindi names of new criminal laws.

Chauvinism is treating the state that contributes the most to the nation as second-class citizens and denying its fair share for refusing to swallow the poison called National Education Policy 2020, he said.

Maintaining that imposition of anything breeds enmity which in turn threatens unity, Stalin said the true chauvinists and anti-nationals are the Hindi zealots who believe “their entitlement is natural but our resistance is treason.”

Stalin has been accusing the Union government of trying to impose Hindi on Tamil Nadu by “pressuring” it to implement the three-language formula as part of the National Education Policy 2020 and has warned that the DMK and the state were prepared to face yet another battle for language.

The fresh confrontation between the state and Centre began after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said states like Tamil Nadu won’t get funds under Samagra Shiksha if they don’t subscribe to NEP.