DMK to launch protest in Tamil Nadu against Centre's "Hindi imposition"

The ruling DMK's youth and students' wing has announced a state-wide protest in Tamil Nadu against the recommendation of the parliamentary panel to make Hindi the medium of instruction in central educational institutes.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Youth Wing Secretary Udhyanithi Stalin and Students Wing Secretary CVMP Ezhilarasan jointly released a statement on Wednesday, October 12, in which they announced a protest against the central government's "Hindi imposition policies". DMK has planned protests across Tamil Nadu on October 15, as per ANI.

Tamil Nadu CM’s stance

The move comes after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin condemned the Centre’s alleged imposition of the Hindi language. Stalin, in his statement listed out the sacrifices youngsters made in history against "Hindi imposition" and said "not to impose another language war on us", as per ANI.

On October 10, Stalin tweeted, "The rigorous thrust by the Union BJP government for #HindiImposition, negating the diversity of India is happening at an alarming pace. The proposals made in the 11th volume of the report of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language are a direct onslaught on India's soul."

"If implemented, the vast non-Hindi speaking population will be made second-class citizens in their own land. Imposing Hindi is against the integrity of India. The BJP government would do well to learn lessons from the Anti-Hindi agitations in the past," Stalin added in his tweet.

Kerala CM’s stance

Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on October 12 wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that efforts to impose the Hindi language are "unacceptable", as per ANI.

To recall, the Committee of Parliament on Official Language headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah has recommended that the medium of instruction should mandatorily be Hindi in all technical or non-technical educational institutions including central universities, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.

In its 11th volume of the report presented to President Droupadi Murmu last month, the Committee states that English should be the medium of instruction only where it is absolutely necessary and gradually, English should be replaced with Hindi in those institutions.