Kerala CM hits out at Shah as row over Hindi push rages on
CRITICISM Vijayan says despite protests Shah wasn’t ready to withdraw from ‘Hindi agenda’
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah’s call to unify India with Hindi as its national language drew sharp criticism from different political fronts.
Launchign an attack on Shah, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday said it was a “planned attempt” to stir up a controversy and divert attention from pressing problems in the country. He termed it as a ‘war cry’ against the mother tongue of non-hindi speaking people.
Vijayan, in a Facebook post, said that despite protests in many places on the issue, Shah was not prepared to withdraw from the “Hindi agenda”, which are signs to show that the sangh parivar was getting ready to open a new “agitational platform”.
Shah had in a series of tweets on Saturday, said, “India has many languages and every language has its importance. But it is absolutely necessary that the entire country should have one language that becomes India’s identity globally.”
Vijayan said the notion that Hindi can unite the country was “absurd” and the move was a “war cry” against those loving their mother tongue.
“That language is not the mother tongue of a majority of Indians. The move to impose Hindi on them amounts to enslaving them. The Union Minister’s statement is a war cry against the mother tongues of non-hindi speaking people,” he said.
“In the name of language, there are no issues in the country now. And if one is unable to speak in Hindi, he/she need not feel that they are not an Indian,” he said.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying the attempt was to divide the people and create divisions in society on the basis of language.
In Bengaluru, Congress supporters on Sunday staged a proSITARAM YECHURY, CPI(M) general secretary
The agenda of RSS is to impose Hindi as the national language. RSS ideology is one nation, one language, and one culture, which is not acceptable
test against Shah comments.
The protesters were seen holding placards that read “We oppose Central government decisions”, while also raising slogans like “Stop imposing Hindi”.
Local Congress leader Manohar told ANI, “We are protesting against Amit Shah’s statement about imposing Hindi on the people of the nation. Kannada is superior in Karnataka. South Indian languages are supreme in their respective states.”
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also criticized Shah’s comments “run contrary to the spirit of the Indian Constitution and our country’s linguistic diversity”. “All languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution are national languages and must be treated equally,” the party said.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, “The agenda of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is to impose Hindi as the national language. RSS ideology is one nation, one language, and one culture, which is not acceptable,” said Yechury told ANI.
The DMK president Mkstalin accused the Centre of “autocratic imposition of Hindi” and underscored the need for unity in opposition ranks to take forward protest against the government on such issues.
Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy also registered strong protest against Shah’s comment and claimed it was a “clear exposure of the hidden agenda” of the Centre to impose the language on non-hindi speaking states.