CHENNAI: Speculation that the state government was planning to introduce a Bill to ban Hindi in all forms in Tamil Nadu was dismissed as rumour by the state’s official fact-check agency on Wednesday.

At least a couple of news platforms had published stories online citing unnamed sources, claiming Chief Minister MK Stalin had convened an “emergency meeting” to discuss an “anti-Hindi Bill” that would prohibit the use of Hindi in movies, songs, and hoardings across the state.

Given the DMK’s decades-long opposition to Hindi imposition, the reports quickly drew sharp reactions from political parties and sections of party supporters.

Former BJP state president K Annamalai, in a post on X, took a swipe at the government, saying that while Andhra Pradesh had signed an agreement with Google to set up a $15-billion AI data centre in Visakhapatnam, the Tamil Nadu chief minister was “looking to ban Hindi.”

He called it “DMK’s pathetic politics and misplaced priorities.”

Later in the day, the Tamil Nadu Fact Check unit cited the secretary of the Legislative Assembly as saying, “No proposal for such a Bill has been received,” with an appeal of “Don’t spread rumours.”