Days after his 'one nation one language' call sparked off a political storm in the country, Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday sought to quell the controversy, saying he had never asked for the imposition if Hindi. Shah said he only advocated Hindi as the second language.
After Shah's clarification, the DMK postponed its proposed protests across Tamil Nadu on September 20.
Asserting that he had been repeatedly pitching for strengthening regional languages, the BJP president lashed out at the opposition for “doing politics” over his comments.
"I too come from a non-Hindi speaking state. I come from Gujarat where Gujarati is the language, not Hindi. One has to listen to my speech carefully. If someone wants to do politics, it is their choice," he said at an event in Ranchi.
Shah had stirred up a hornets' nest during his speech on the occasion of Hindi Divas on Saturday where he made a pitch for a common language for India. His comments triggered protests in many parts of the country, especially in the southern states, with the opposition and activists accusing the BJP government of Hindi over their mother tongue.
Shah, however, clarified on Tuesday that all local languages in India should be strengthened.
"A child can perform, a child's proper mental growth is possible only when the child studies in mother tongue. Mother tongue does not mean Hindi. It is the language of a particular state, like Gujarati in my state. But there should be one language in the country, if someone wants to learn another language, it should be Hindi,” Shah said.
Citing Shah's assertion that he has never asked for imposition of Hindi anywhere in the country, DMK president M.K. Stalin said the protest slated for September 20 has been postponed temporarily. On Monday, a high-level DMK meet had announced state-wide protest demonstrations would be held on September 20 to condemn Shah's Hindi pitch.
