'We won’t be enslaved by Hindi': Stalin tells Amit Shah

Terming Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks that Hindi must be finally accepted without opposition as “audacious push” for the language’s acceptance, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin told the Union Government to “take heed of the growing resistance” on Hindi imposition and not to ignite the “embers” of the 1965 agitation.

“We won’t be enslaved by Hindi,” Stalin said in a terse statement, tearing into the BJP’s attempts to “impose” the language on non-Hindi speaking states.

The DMK President was referring to Shah’s speech at the 38th meeting of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language in which he said Hindi must be finally accepted without opposition, even if the pace of acceptance is slow.

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“I strongly denounce Union Home Minister @AmitShah's audacious push for Hindi acceptance. It's a blatant attempt to subjugate non-Hindi speakers. Tamil Nadu rejects any form of Hindi hegemony and imposition. Our language and heritage define us – we won't be enslaved by Hindi!,” Stalin said in a post on X.

I strongly denounce Union Home Minister @AmitShah's audacious push for Hindi acceptance. It's a blatant attempt to subjugate non-Hindi speakers. Tamil Nadu rejects any form of Hindi hegemony and imposition. Our language and heritage define us – we won't be enslaved by Hindi!… pic.twitter.com/gNiJ2TGtKm

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) August 5, 2023

Stalin also asked Shah to take note of vehement opposition to imposition of Hindi in states like Karnataka and West Bengal.

“…please take heed of the growing resistance! Igniting the embers of the '1965 Anti-Hindi Imposition Agitations' would be an unwise move,” the Chief Minister said, referring to the series of protests in Tamil Nadu that catapulted his party to power in 1967.

Opposing Hindi imposition is one of the founding principles of the DMK and its off-shoot AIADMK – both parties have been resisting every move by successive Union Governments to “impose” the language. Tamil Nadu is the only state in India to follow a two language policy of Tamil and English since the 1960s against the three language policy followed elsewhere.

In 2022, Stalin had taken strong objection to Shah’s statement that Hindi unites the whole nation in a thread of unity as an official language, saying the country remains India and not “Hindia.”

In response to Stalin’s post, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai sought to know what the DMK did when the then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram gave over 170 recommendations on implementing Hindi in 2011.

When former Home Minister Thiru @PChidambaram_IN avl gave over 170 recommendations on implementing Hindi in 2011, what was Thiru @mkstalin avl doing?

Did CBI, ED & IT raid by your alliance partner hurt you badly that you took a mouna vradh? Why is Thiru @mkstalin quoting the Hon… https://t.co/SlVzczhJqG

— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) August 5, 2023

“The Home Minister has said that the Nation will be empowered only by promoting all Indian Languages. People who ensured that Tamil stayed confined inside TN should be reminded that this is not 1965…If an award was given for double standards & hypocrisy, the CM would win it hands down,” he added.