‘Didn’t intend to impose Hindi, seek its promotion as second language’
RANCHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said he has never sought the imposition of Hindi, but only advocated its use as the second language, days after he made a pitch for it as India’s unifier and drew criticism from politicians in south India.
Speaking at Hindustan Purvoday Summit, an event organised by Hindi daily Hindustan, a sister publication of Hindustan Times, Shah said he has repeatedly pitched for strengthening regional languages. “I made a humble request to people to learn Hindi as a second language. What is the harm in my request, I failed to understand,” Shah said, referring to his speech at a function to mark Hindi Divas on Saturday.
Shah on Saturday said “unity in diversity” was India’s defining trait, but added the country needed a language that it could be identified with globally. “Today, if there is one language that can bind the nation, it is Hindi, the country’s most widely-spoken language,” said Shah at the Hindi Divas function.
In Chennai, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which had threatened an agitation across Tamil Nadu over the issue on September 20, claimed victory after Shah’s clarification.
DMK president MK Stalin cited Shah’s clarification and “postponed temporarily” the agitation. Stalin said Shah has said that his views on Hindi had been “wrongly understood.”
“We consider his [Shah’s] clarification as a big victory for the DMK following the party’s announcement of protest demonstrations,” Stalin told reporters. He warned if Hindi is imposed, the DMK will oppose it.
Stalin said Shah might have given the clarification as DMK’s protest may have spread across the nation. He said Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit, whom he met earlier Wednesday, too, told him that Shah’s views had been misunderstood.
He said he was invited for a meeting with Purohit. Stalin added when the governor raised the issue of DMK’s proposed protest on September 20, he explained it was against Hindi imposition following Shah’s recent Hindi pitch.
“After we explained the reason for our protest, the governor said Amit Shah’s views have been misunderstood. The governor was categorical that Hindi will not be imposed in Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said. He said he asked Purohit if the Central government will come forward to convey it. “The governor gave us an assurance that he is a representative of the Union government and that he was conveying it to us only after the Centre wanted him to convey it,” Stalin said.