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MK Stalin writes to PM Modi on ‘Centre’s aggressive attempt to impose Hindi'

Tamil Nadu Chief minister MK Stalin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi

"It has been reported that the Committee, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, submitted its report to the President of India, wherein inter-alia, has recommended that Hindi should be the compulsory medium of instruction in educational institutions of the Union government such as IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and central universities and Hindi should replace English.", MK Stalin wrote in the letter to PM Modi. 

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister highlighted that it has been recommended by the panel that, "youth would be eligible for certain jobs only if they had studied Hindi, and removal of English (is proposed) as one of the compulsory papers in recruitment exams."

Such proposals went against the federal principles of Constitution and would only harm the nation's multi-lingual fabric, he said. Efforts to "impose" Hindi in various ways as recommended in that report should not be taken forward and the "glorious flame of unity of India may be held high forever," the Chief Minister requested.

The Tamil Nadu CM noted that the recommendation by the parliamentary panel also includes that Hindi shall be made as the medium of instruction in all technical, non-technical institutions and all the Union government institutions including Kendriya Vidyalayas.

"I would like to point out that the number of people speaking languages other than Hindi is numerically more than Hindi-speaking people in the Indian Union. I am sure you would appreciate that every language has its own specialty with its uniqueness and linguistic culture." 

 The Centre's recent attempts to "impose Hindi" are impractical and divisive in character puts non-Hindi speaking people in a very disadvantageous position in many respects, the CM said.

Stalin demanded that all languages should be accorded the status of official language of the Union government. All the regional languages, including Tamil, should be treated equally and that is the way to ensure the principle of unity in diversity. There are 22 languages including Tamil in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. All such languages have equal rights and there are several demands that some more languages should also be included under the schedule.

On 10 October, Stalin appealed to Modi to give up attempts to "make Hindi mandatory" and uphold the nation's unity. "Do not force another language war by imposing Hindi," the DMK chief had said. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also had taken exception to the panel's recommendation. DMK and CPI(M) are allies in Tamil Nadu.

On Saturday, the ruling DMK's youth wing secretary and Stalin's son, Udayanidhi Stalin warned the Centre that his party would stage a protest against it in Delhi if Hindi was thrust upon Tamil Nadu. A parliamentary panel has recently recommended that the medium of instruction in technical and non-technical higher education institutes such as the IITs in Hindi-speaking states should be Hindi and in other parts of the country, the respective regional languages.

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