MDMK general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Vaiko on Wednesday warned that the Indian landscape will not remain the same in 2047 on the occasion of the centenary of its Independence if the Centre ‘bulldozed’ people into learning Hindi and Sanskrit.
Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Vaiko said the Indian sub-continent consisted of many nationalities, religions, languages and cultures. “That is why India should be called the United States of India,” he said.
Condemning the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Mr. Vaiko said 11 State governments had vehemently opposed the legislation, and resolutions had been adopted in the Assemblies of Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal against it.
“This is the first occasion in the history of independent India where States have rallied against the Centre. In the State of Kerala, for the first time, 7.5 million people formed a human chain,” he said. In Tamil Nadu, under the leadership of the DMK, the Opposition parties had launched a signature campaign to get a minimum of one crore signature against the legislation, he said.
Mr. Vaiko alleged that the BJP government was anti-Tamil and accused it of hobnobbing with the Sinhalese government in Sri Lanka, which had killed thousands of Tamils.
“The then Defence Secretary during the genocide, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has become the President of Sri Lanka, and this government rolled out the red carpet for him. This is nothing but a terrible betrayal of Tamils,” he said.
