Reiterating Tamil Nadu government's position against attempts to impose Hindi on the State, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi contending that the continued efforts to promote Hindi in the name of 'one nation' would destroy the feeling of brotherhood of people of different languages and cultures and is detrimental to the integrity of India.
In his letter, Mr. Stalin argued: "The recent attempts to impose Hindi are impractical and divisive in character; puts non-Hindi speaking people in a very disadvantageous position in many respects. This will not be acceptable not only to Tamil Nadu but also to any state that respects and values their mother tongue." All regional languages, including Tamil, should be treated equally in India and should be accorded the status of official language of the Union government, he said.
India stood as a shining example for multi-cultural and multi-linguistic democracy in the world arena today, because of the inclusive and harmonious policies being followed so far, Mr. Stalin said: "But, I am afraid, the continued efforts to promoting Hindi in the name of 'one nation' will destroy the feeling of brotherhood of people of different languages and cultures and is detrimental to the integrity of India."
Suggesting that the approach of the Union government should be to include all languages, including Tamil, in the Eighth Schedule, the official language, keeping in view the scientific development and technological facilities and promote all languages and keep open the avenues of progress in terms of education and employment equal to speakers of all languages, he said: "I therefore request that the efforts to impose Hindi in various ways as recommended in the report may not be taken forward and the glorious flame of unity of India may be held high forever."
Mr. Stalin referred to a report submitted by the Parliamentary Committee on Official Languages, which reportedly has recommended that Hindi should be the compulsory medium of instruction in educational institutions of the Union government such as IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and central universities and Hindi should replace English. A copy of the letter was shared with the media.
"I am further given to understand that it has been further recommended that youth would be eligible for certain jobs only if they had studied Hindi, and removal of English as one of the compulsory papers in recruitment exams. These are all against the federal principles of our constitution and will only harm the multi-lingual fabric of our Nation," Mr. Stalin said.
The number of people speaking languages other than Hindi was numerically more than Hindi-speaking people in the Indian Union, he pointed out and further contended every language has its own specialty with its uniqueness and linguistic culture. "It is with the objective of protecting our rich and unique languages from the imposition of Hindi that English has been made as the link language and continue to be one of the official languages of the Union government."
Recalling that Tamil Nadu has been consistently and strongly raising its voice for the rights and protection of not just Tamil but all State languages, Mr. Stalins said several youths of Tamil Nadu sacrificed their lives in 1965 in the anti-Hindi agitation that erupted in Tamil Nadu against the imposition of Hindi. Then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru respected the sentiments and gave an assurance that English "will continue to be one of the official languages as long as the non-Hindi speaking people want", the CM pointed out.
Subsequently, the resolutions passed in 1968 and 1976 on official language, and according to the rules laid down thereunder, ensured the use of both English and Hindi in Union government services. "This position must continue to remain as the corner stone of all discussions on official language," Mr. Stalin added.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State's health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050).
