Many people became second-class citizen after linguistic movement: TN guv

Ahmedabad: Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Tuesday said the linguistic movement a decade after Independence made "a large part of the population second-class citizens in every state, including Tamil Nadu."

He said people 'refused to live together' the moment linguistic states were born.

Speaking at the Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gujarat's Gandhinagar, Ravi said, "People lived together happily, but within a decade of Independence, there was a linguistic reorganisation of Bharat. This happened following violent protests. When we created linguistic states, a large population became second-class citizens.

In my state of Tamil Nadu, people who spoke Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi and Hindi lived together, but the moment it became a linguistic state, one-third of the population became second-class citizens.."

Claiming that the Northeast was 'peaceful before Independence, he said, a decade later, 'we started fighting with each other'. "Never before have people fought with each other. Never. It all started after the first decade of Independence. Something went wrong. The country was taken in a direction that created division among people," Ravi said while citing the 2008 Administrative Commission Report.

Commenting on Operation Sindoor, Ravi said, "It will go down in history as an example of how a country can achieve its political objectives through the military in a swift manner."

"Can we imagine Operation Sindoor 10-15 years ago? It couldn't happen. Not that our armed forces were not able or they lacked valour, but valour alone is not enough. Had we conducted a similar operation 10 years ago, the cost would have been much heavier. Today, with minimal cost, we achieved what seemed unachievable 10 years ago," Ravi said.

"A major shift is visible since 2014 in governance and law enforcement, utilising the same state machinery and apparatus, ensuring zero tolerance to any terror or internal divisive insurgencies. He emphasised that it is essential to have the knowledge of Shatrubodh (who is your enemy), and to have awareness of Rashtrabodh, a sense of national consciousness."