'Do not force another language war on us': Stalin tells Centre

Coming out strongly against a reported recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee report on Official Languages to use Hindi as a medium of instruction in IITs, IIMs and central universities [in Hindi-speaking states], Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin on Monday cautioned the Union Government not to force “another language war on us” by imposing Hindi.

Reiterating the DMK’s demand to elevate all Indian languages as “official languages”, in a statement, Stalin said, “Do not take a total contrarian position and attempt to make Hindi mandatory and force another language war on us. Do not try to test the fire of our mother language affinity.”

Urging prime minister Narendra Modi to reject the proposal to make Hindi the medium of instruction [the Committee had said regional language could be the medium of instruction in non-Hindi speaking States], he said forcing an impractical proposal would only portray as if the Hindi-speaking population alone are Indian citizens and the rest “second class” citizens.

“Not only Tamil Nadu but any State upholding its mother tongue would not accept it,” he said. Besides, a majority of teachers, officers and students in educational institutions run by the Union Government were from States that did not speak Hindi.

Cautioning that such persistent actions on the part of the Centre would destroy brotherhood, he said, "Imposing the idea of 'One Nation [One Language]', would only pose a threat to national integration.

The chief minister further questioned the urgency and necessity of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah-led panel to make Hindi a medium of instruction when all 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution were equal.

Recalling first India's prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s assurance that English would remain the language of official communication till the time non-Hindi speakers desired, he pointed out that Tamil youth had sacrificed their lives to protect their mother tongue.