Hindi is mask, Sanskrit the hidden face, says Stalin

UPPING the ante against alleged Hindi imposition by the Centre, Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Thursday (27) said the state will not allow the forcing of the language on it and vowed to protect Tamil and its culture.

"Will oppose Hindi imposition. Hindi is the mask, Sanskrit is the hidden face," he said in a letter to party workers.

The ruling DMK has been alleging Hindi imposition by the Centre through the 3-language formula as part of the National Education Policy (NEP), a charge denied by the union government.

The issue has since become a bone of contention between the two, prompting Stalin to declare the state was even ready for "another language war," like the anti-Hindi agitation the DMK spearheaded in 1965.

In the letter, Stalin claimed many north Indian languages spoken in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh such as Mythili, Brajbhasha, Bundelkhandi and Awadhi "have been destroyed by the hegemonic Hindi."

"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.

Tamil Nadu is opposing NEP because the Centre is trying to impose Hindi and Sanskrit through the education policy, he added.

Countering BJP's contention that the third language according to the NEP could be even a foreign one, Stalin claimed that according to the 3-language policy schedule, "only Sanskrit is being promoted in many states."

BJP-ruled Rajasthan was appointing Sanskrit teachers instead of Urdu instructors, he claimed.

"If Tamil Nadu accepts the trilingual policy, the mother language will be ignored and there will be Sankritisation in the future," he said.

He claimed NEP provisions say that other Indian languages will be taught in schools in "addition to Sanskrit" and that others like Tamil could be taught online.

"This makes it clear the Centre has planned to do away with languages like Tamil and impose Sanskrit," the CM charged.

Dravidian stalwart and former chief minister CN Annadurai had mandated the two-language policy in the state decades ago to make it clear "there is no place for the imposition of Aryan culture through Hindi-Sanskrit and destruction of Tamil culture," Stalin said.

Attempt to divide society: Vaishnaw

I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday (27) described Stalin's remarks on "Hindi imposition" as a "shallow attempt" to divide society to hide his government's poor governance and wondered whether Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shared the DMK leader's views.

"Poor governance will never be hidden by such shallow attempts to divide society," Vaishnaw said in a post on X, responding to Stalin's letter to DMK cadre.

Vaishnaw wondered whether Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha agreed with Stalin.

"It will be interesting to know what the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi Ji, has to say on this subject. Does he, as MP of a Hindi-speaking seat, agree," Vaishnaw said in a post on X.

BJP-DMK 'kindergarten' fight: Vijay

Meanwhile, Actor-politician Vijay, founder of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, has ridiculed the BJP and DMK for waging a hashtag war on social media 'X' and said the two parties were fighting like kindergarten kids, trivialising the serious issue of language row.

At TVK's first anniversary celebrations at Mamallapuram near Chennai on Wednesday (26), Vijay said the BJP countered the DMK’s “#Get out Modi” with “#Get out Stalin” on the trilingual policy, ‘just like LKG and UKG students fight.’

"It's the Centre’s duty to provide funds and its the state's rights to receive funds. But both the fascism and 'payasam' (the word TVK uses to ridicule DMK's anti-fascism rhetoric), our political and ideological enemies, are playing with hashtags on social media. What's happening here? Both are pretending to fight and expect us to believe? What bro, its wrong bro,” he said evoking laughter among his party cadres.

He said the TVK respected all languages but would not give up its self-respect for another language. "As an individual, anyone can learn any language but violating the cooperative federalism and state autonomy, and leaving a question mark on the state language by thrusting another language and imposing it politically is unacceptable,” he said at the well-attended gathering. (PTI)