Stalin postpones protest after Amit Shah's clarification on 'Imposition' of Hindi

Chennai, Sep 19: Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) chief MK Stalin on Wednesday announced that the party has postponed its protest scheduled for September 20 against Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement on the Hindi language after the latter issued a clarification on it.

"Our statewide protest against the imposition of Hindi has been postponed after Union Minister Amit Shah has given his clarification on the matter," the DMK chief said.

"We consider his (Shah's) clarification as a big victory for the DMK," Stalin said. However, the leader from the south said if Hindi was imposed, the DMK will oppose it at all times. Referring to his meeting with Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit at Raj Bhavan, Stalin said Purohit told him that Hindi will not be imposed.

Referring to his speech on the occasion of Hindi Divas on Saturday where he made a pitch for a common language for India, the home minister said to end the confusion, people should listen to his speech carefully but "if someone wants to do politics, it is their choice."

Clarifying his comments, he said, "A child can perform, a child's proper mental growth is possible only when the child studies in mother tongue. Mother tongue does not mean Hindi. It is the language of a particular state, like Gujarati in my state. But there should be one language in the country, if someone wants to learn another language, it should be Hindi."

"I have just made the request. I have failed to understand what is wrong in that," he said at an event organised by Hindi daily 'Hindustan' in Ranchi. "I too come from a non-Hindi speaking state. I come from Gujarat where Gujarati is the language, not Hindi. One has to listen to my speech carefully...," Shah said.

On Saturday, Shah pitched for a common language for the country and said as Hindi is spoken the most, it can unite the whole country.

While the DMK had announced protests, actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan warned of a bigger stir in the state than the pro-Jallikattu agitation in 2017 against any attempts of Hindi "imposition".

Tamil Nadu was witness to the anti-Hindi agitation taken forward by the DMK in the 1960s against the alleged imposition of the language.