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Will not allow Hindi imposition: Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai was speaking amid a controversy over alleged Hindi imposition in neighbouring union territory of Puducherry where the DMK protested against a new circular at JIPMER, saying the entries in service books must be in Hindi and English.
Tamil Nadu BJP unit said it will never allow imposition of Hindi in the state, even as the party-led central leadership has been advocating for Hindi to be the country’s unifying language with slogans of “one nation, one language”.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai was candid in revealing that he doesn’t know how to speak Hindi and it was acceptable for people to learn Hindi voluntarily but it shouldn’t be forced. “The party’s definite stand is that Hindi imposition will not be allowed in Tamil Nadu,” Annamalai told reporters in Coimbatore on Tuesday.
“It is fine for people to learn Hindi voluntarily. I’m also learning Hindi voluntarily to be able to converse in Delhi. I have an online tuition master to teach me. But if I’m instructed to study, even I won’t learn. Everyone is like that. So, the BJP will not allow Hindi being forced on any one in Tamil Nadu.”
Annamalai was speaking amid a controversy over alleged Hindi imposition in neighbouring union territory of Puducherry where the DMK protested against a new circular at JIPMER, saying the entries in service books must be in Hindi and English.
However, Puducherry lieutenant governor Tamilisai Sounderarajan told reporters that the specification from the union government was for the entries to be in Tamil first followed by Hindi and English. “There will be no interference in communication with Tamil people. Because there are several people here whose mother tongue is Hindi who are maintaining these service books, the circular specified for the entries to be in Hindi as far as possible,” Sounderarajan said.
Minister of state L Murugan also reiterated that Tamil was given priority and the circular was issued for the benefit of those whose mother tongue is Hindi. “This is a central government institution. There is a percentage of those working here whose mother tongue is Hindi,” he said.
The politics over Hindi revived in Tamil Nadu after union home minister Amit Shah in April remarked for Hindi to be a common link language of India. It was met with criticism across the country and chief minister MK Stalin had warned the union government not to forget the 1960s anti-Hindi agitations in the state.
–To add political analyst Raveendran Duraisamy’s quote on TN BJP’s stance–
