‘Don’t force another language war by imposing Hindi,’ MK Stalin warns Central government

“Don’t force another language war on us by trying to impose Hindi. Don’t ignite the fire of our mother tongue consciousness,” he added.

“I appeal to the Union government led by Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi to give up its attempts to make Hindi compulsory and uphold the unity of India,” the statement read.

Debate on ‘common language’

Reacting to the panel reportedly recommending Hindi to be made the common language across India, Stalin highlighted that the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution has 22 languages, including Tamil, entitled to equal rights.

“In such a scenario, where does the need arise for the committee to recommend that Hindi be made the common language?” he asked.

The Tamil Nadu chief minister further charged that mandating a common language, which is practically impossible, is akin to stating that only Hindi speakers are the rightful citizens of India, and that speakers of other languages were second-class citizens. “This is divisive in nature,” he said.

Stalin also accused the BJP-led Union government of constantly trying to destroy the brotherhood among people belonging to different religions, languages, and cultures by attempting to impose “one language, one religion, one food, and one culture” in the name of “one nation”.

“This is detrimental to the unity of the country,” he warned.

The rigorous thrust by Union BJP government for #HindiImposition, negating the diversity of India is happening at an alarming pace.

The proposals made in the 11th volume of the report of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language are a direct onslaught on India’s soul. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Orry8qKshq

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) October 10, 2022

He underlined that not only Tamil Nadu but any state that respects its native language, which includes its neighbouring states, would not accept the recommendations made by the parliamentary committee.

On the occasion of “Hindi Diwas” on 14 September, when Union minister Amit Shah stated that Hindi was “a friend of all Indian languages and it unites the whole nation in a thread of unity”, MK Stalin reminded Shah that “it is India, and not Hindia”.

He also urged the Union government to observe the day as “Indian Languages Day” instead of “Hindi Diwas” to strengthen the culture of the country.

Importantly, other political leaders also heavily criticised the BJP for trying to impose Hindi.

Background

The latest row over language was triggered after The Print, a media organisation, published a story quoting the report of the parliamentary committee, which was submitted to President Droupadi Murmu by Shah in September.

According to the news report, the panel recommended making Hindi a compulsory medium of instruction and other activities in all technical and non-technical educational institutions in the country, and English being made optional.

This included the Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, Central universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and even the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

As far as recruitment exams for government jobs are concerned, the report purportedly stated that compulsory English-language papers must be replaced by Hindi papers.

“It is mandatory to work in Hindi in the institutions of the Government of India. In such a situation, the necessity of the knowledge of Hindi is important at the time of selection of employees. Therefore, the committee recommends that the knowledge of Hindi should be ensured for the selection of employees,” the report was quoted as saying.

The panel further recommended that Hindi be made an official language at the United Nations because of its “popularity due to globalisation and liberalisation”.

It also suggested that proceedings in the high courts located in the Hindi heartland must take place in Hindi, and English translations must be provided only if there is a Constitutional requirement.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other members of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language in New Delhi on 7 April, 2022. (Supplied)

Some of the other recommendations include:

• Correspondence by Central government offices, ministries or departments should be in Hindi
• Invitations, speeches and moderation for any event organised by the Central government must be in Hindi
• The incentive amount given to officials of the Central government working in Hindi must be increased
• A provision must be made so that those joining Central government services should know Hindi beforehand
• More than 50 percent of the budget for government advertisements must be allocated to Hindi ads
• State governments should also include the propagation of Hindi in their constitutional obligations.

When the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language was held in April, it approved the sending of the committee report to the President.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah was quoted by the ministry as saying in a statement: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided that the medium of running the government is the official language and this will definitely increase the importance of Hindi.”

He added about Modi: “He said that now the time has come to make the official language an important part of the unity of the country. He said that when citizens of states who speak other languages communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India. Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English and not to local languages.”

Other political reactions

Reacting to the recommendations reportedly made by the parliamentary panel, former Union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram took to Twitter and said that if the news was correct, then it was proof that the Modi government was determined to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states, which he believed non-Hindi speaking people should “unhesitatingly reject”.

“The consequences of the confrontation between the Modi government and the non-Hindi speaking states will be disastrous for the country,” the former Union minister from Tamil Nadu warned.

Reflecting similar views, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said: “Imposing the RSS’ vision of Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan on India’s unique and rich linguistic diversity is simply unacceptable.”

He added that all 22 official languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution must be treated and encouraged equally.

Imposing RSS vision of ‘Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan’ on India’s unique and rich linguistic diversity is simply UNACCEPTABLE.
All 22 Official languages listed in the 8th schedule of the Constitution must be treated and encouraged equally.
India is a celebration of its diversities. pic.twitter.com/Bg5spY5iQK

— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) October 9, 2022

The CPI(M)’s Thomas Isaac, former Kerala finance minister, alleged that India was being ruled by a party that “does not believe in the diversity of the country”.

“India is being ruled by a party that does not believe in the diversity of the country. How else could it insist on knowledge of Hindi as a precondition for Central government employment by insisting that the recruitment tests would be only in Hindi?” he asked on Twitter.

The Congress’s Member of Parliament and Karnataka leader GC Chandrasekhar urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai — of the BJP — to give priority to English and the state’s languages in educational institutions, as opposed to any other language.

In a tweet, Chandrasekhar said: “Kannadigas have the supreme and ultimate power in Karnataka. Our languages are Kannada, Tulu, Kodava and Bari.”

Addressing Bommai, he said educational institutions in the state “should give priority to English (as it is required for technical education today) and our language, and not any other language”.