Chairman of the Press Council of India Justice (retired) Markandey Katju conveyed to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa his desire that Tamils should learn the language of Hindi. After his brief meeting with her, Mr Justice Katju told The Hindu that Tamils faced a lot of difficulty in communicating with people in the the north, west and eastern regions of the country, whereas people of other southern States, who knew a bit of Hindi, did not have such problems. Ms Jayalalithaa told him that Tamils were indeed learning Hindi till the 1960s. She also pointed out to him that when the study of Hindi was sought to be imposed on the Tamils, there was a strong reaction.
Mr Justice Katju responded, saying that he agreed with her that nothing should be imposed as this was the age of democracy.. People should be persuaded, not coerced. It was wrong on the part of certain north Indians to have attempted to impose Hindi on the Tamils.
When he told her that he understood that she knew Hindi, Ms Jayalalithaa started speaking in fluent Hindi.
