'There is no place for Hindi then, now, and forever in Tamil Nadu': CM Stalin on Language Martyrs Day

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday asserted that there was "no place" for the Hindi language in the state forever.

Paying tributes on the occasion of Language Martyrs Day, the DMK President said, "A state that loved its language like its life unitedly struggled against Hindi imposition; it protested with the same intensity every time it was imposed."

"Language Martyrs Day; there is no place for Hindi then, now, and forever (in TN)," the Chief Minister said in a social media post.

Stalin shared a brief video of the history related to the anti-Hindi agitation, which peaked during 1965, that included references to the 'martyrs,' besides the contributions of late DMK stalwarts C.N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi in the language issue.

Tamil Nadu, by leading the anti-Hindi agitation, "safeguarded the right and identity of various linguistic national races in the sub-continent," Stalin added.

"I pay my grateful respects to those martyrs who gave their precious lives for Tamil. No more lives will be lost in the language war; our love for Tamil will never die! We shall oppose Hindi imposition forever. #LanguageMartyrsDay #StopHindiImposition," the CM said.

'Language Martyrs' is a reference to those who had sacrificed their lives, mainly by self-immolation, during the anti-Hindi agitation across Tamil Nadu in 1964–65.

To this day, the southern state follows the two-language formula—Tamil and English—even as the DMK has been alleging Hindi imposition through the Centre's NEP 2020.

On Saturday, Stalin had accused Governor R.N. Ravi of insulting the position he holds by not reading out the inaugural speech at the commencement of the assembly session.

The CM’s remarks, made in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, came just days after he said that his party would seek to amend the Constitution to omit the provisions mandating the Governor's address to the state legislature at the beginning of the assembly session.

Stalin said that the national anthem was always played at the conclusion of the Governor's speech in the TN Assembly, and the Tamil Thai Vazhthu was played at the commencement.

“We are not inferior to anyone in patriotism, and no one needs to teach us,” Stalin said, adding that political challenges were not new to him. “I have faced numerous challenges in the past and overcome them.”