NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Thursday stepped up his attack at the BJP-led central government over alleged “Hindi imposition”, saying Hindi “swallowed” over a score of regional languages in the North.
Calling the “real” regional languages of North India “relics of the past”, Stalin said “push for a monolithic Hindi identity is what kills ancient mother tongues”.
“More than 25 north Indian native languages have been destroyed by the invasion of hegemonic Hindi-Sanskrit languages. The century-old Dravidian movement safeguarded Tamil and its culture because of the awareness it created and the various agitations,” the ruling DMK chief said.
In a sharp-worded criticism of the ruling BJP’s three-language policy under NEP, the Tamil Nadu CM claimed that “invaders with ethnic hostility for centuries have attempted to destroy the unique Tamil culture”.
Intensifying his attack, the CM said the “three-language policy, we find that in most states, either Hindi or Sanskrit is being prioritised over other Indian languages”.
“Will oppose Hindi imposition. Hindi is the mask, Sanskrit is the hidden face,” he said in a letter to partymen.
“My dear sisters and brothers from other states, Ever wondered how many Indian languages Hindi has swallowed? Bhojpuri, Maithili, Awadhi, Braj, Bundeli, Garhwali, Kumaoni, Magahi, Marwari, Malvi, Chhattisgarhi, Santhali, Angika, Ho, Kharia, Khortha, Kurmali, Kurukh, Mundari and many more are now gasping for survival. The push for a monolithic Hindi identity is what kills ancient mother tongues. UP and Bihar were never just “Hindi heartlands.” Their real languages are now relics of the past,” the DMK chief wrote on X.
Stalin further said the dangers of “forcing Hindi upon non-Hindi states have been widely discussed. However, this hegemonic project is also swallowing up languages like Magadhi and Bhojpuri in the Hindi-speaking belt itself”.
Only Tamil language and culture survived while many other languages which gave way to Hindi, got swallowed,” he claimed.
“The native languages of this land have been shattered by the aggressive expansion of Hindi as a dominant language,” he added.
On Tuesday, Stalin said that Tamil Nadu was prepared for “another language war” as tensions continue to rise with the Centre over the alleged ‘imposition of Hindi’ through the National Education Policy (NEP).
The NEP is a direct threat to our children’s future. We do not oppose any language. But we will always resist any attempts to impose a language on us,” Stalin asserted.
He further clarified that their opposition to the NEP is not solely because it promotes Hindi, but because the policy pushes students out of schools.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai fired back at MK Stalin’s “another language war” remark, saying the DMK chief “wanted to shift the narrative”.
“When TN CM Thiru MK Stalin knows the whole of TN has rejected their argument except a few paint-dabba carrying DMK cadres on the third language for our children studying in TN Govt schools similar to the schools run by TN CM’s family, he now wants to shift the narrative to his imaginary fear of TN losing in the Delimitation of seats,” Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai wrote on X.
“What a shame & downfall for DMK!” he added.