CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Monday that the attempts to impose Hindi-learning and obstacles to the Keezhadi excavation project were part of a larger political project of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
“Why impose this [Hindi language]? Imposition of that is the imposition of a certain ideological conditioning. It is that ideological conditioning which is a prerequisite for the ideological conditioning required for converting this Secular Republic of India into their version of Hindu Rashtra,” said Mr. Yechury.
Mr. Yechury was speaking at a conference on Hindi imposition and Keezhadi excavation, held at the Kamarajar Arangam. It was organised jointly by the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers’ and Artists’ Association and the Students’ Federation of India. Among those who attended were CPI’s central committee member D. Pandian and CPI-M State secretary G. Ramakrishnan.
Quoting scientific projects, especially the Human Genome Project, Mr. Yechury said that the RSS assertion that India had always been inhabited by Indians stands on flimsy ground. “Adivasi means the primitive inhabitant. The RSS calls them Vanvasi: they never admit that these people were the first people to inhabit India. Now, science is proving that they are,” he said. Mr. Yechury said that this necessitated the rewriting of history; the Keezhadi project was significant for the same reasons.
Longest fight for Tamil
DMK leader and Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Duraimurugan said that the fight to save Tamil was a question of honour. “Nowhere has a fight to protect a language gone on for so long. We started in 1938 and it has been 80 years,” he said.
VCK president Thol. Thirumavalavan said that Hindi imposition was another step towards realising the RSS’s dream of a unified India without diversity: he said that the Goods and Services Tax and NEET were among the other steps with the same objective.
