Man burns himself to death in language protest

Thangavel protested outside a DMK party office

An octogenarian burned himself to death in southern India in protest of what he called New Delhi’s attempts to impose the nationwide usage of Hindi, police said yesterday.

In India, English serves as the main official medium while state governments use regional languages.

According to the most recent census in 2011, fewer than half of Indian citizens speak Hindi — just under 44 per cent.

But last month a group of parliamentarians headed by the interior minister Amit Shah reportedly recommended making Hindi the national official language, including for technical education such as medicine and engineering.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken of a “slave mentality” around the use of English, and promoted the use of Indian languages. But opponents accuse his government of attempting to impose Hindi, causing anger in the south.

MV Thangavel, 85, carried out his protest on Saturday outside an office in Salem of Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK party, of which he was a member.