DMK chief M.K. Stalin on Saturday criticised comments by Home Minister Amit Shah that Hindi should be made a “unifying language” by which India would be identified globally. Shah had made the comments on the occasion of Hindi Diwas.
Hindi Diwas is celebrated on September 14 to mark the day the Constituent Assembly adopted the language as an official language. Speaking in Delhi, Shah had declared, “India is a country of different languages and every language has its own importance, but it is very important to have a language that should become the identity of India in the world. If one language can unite the country today, it is the widely spoken Hindi language.” Shah also urged citizens to use Hindi to “realise the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel”.
Denouncing Shah's comments, Stalin saw it as a sign of “Hindi imposition”. Speaking to mediapersons, Stalin said, “We have been continuously waging a protest against the imposition of Hindi. Today's remarks made by Amit Shah gave us a jolt, it will affect the unity of the country. We demand that he take his sentence back.”
Arguing that India was a Union of states, Stalin said the BJP was destroying diversity in the country. Stalin said the DMK would deliberate its response to the Hindi issue on Monday when it would hold a meeting of its party executive.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also took issue with Amit Shah's statements on Hindi. Taking to Twitter, Owaisi, wrote, “Hindi isn't every Indian's 'mother tongue'. Could you try appreciating the diversity & beauty of the many mother tongues that dot this land? Article 29 gives every Indian the right to a distinct language, script & culture. India's much bigger than Hindi, Hindu, Hindutva.”
In Karnataka, former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and H.D. Kumaraswamy also criticised the celebration of Hindi Diwas. Taking to Twitter, Siddaramaiah wrote, “Please be aware that it [Hindi] is one of the official languages, like Kannada. Language cannot be promoted by falsehoods. Language grows out of mutual love and give-and-take. #HindiDiwas#HindiImposition.”
Siddaramaiah stressed his opposition was not to Hindi, but its “forced imposition”. He wrote, “Languages are the basics of knowledge, and we need to cultivate it with love, not through pressure. Our opposition is not about the language of Hindi, but about its forced imposition. My opposition to the celebration of the Hindi day.”
Kumaraswamy attacked the celebration of Hindi Diwas, asking why there was no similar celebration of Kannada.
