'Totally absurd...' Udhayanidhi Stalin slams HM Amit Shah over 'Hindi is the uniting force of India' remark
"While we are speaking Tamil here, Kerala speaks Malayalam. Where does Hindi merge with and empower us? Amit Shah should stop oppressing non-Hindi languages by calling them just regional languages," the Tamil Nadu minister said on micro-blogging platform X.
FollowTamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has once again sparked off a controversy, this time on Hindi Diwas when he "strongly condemned" Union Home Minister Amit Shah remark "claiming that Hindi is the uniting force of India and it is empowering other regional languages".
Taking top micro-blogging platform X (formerly Twitter), Stalin said: "I strongly condemn the statement of Union Home Minister Amit Shah claiming that Hindi is the uniting force of India and it is empowering other regional languages. Hindi is spoken only in four or five states in the country and hence the statement of Amit Shah is totally absurd. It is only another version of imposing Hindi under the guise of generating livelihood."
"While we are speaking Tamil here, Kerala speaks Malayalam. Where does Hindi merge with and empower us? Amit Shah should stop oppressing non-Hindi languages by calling them just regional languages," he added.
In his Hindi Diwas speech, the Union Home Minister emphasized the significant role of the Hindi language in uniting the nation during the challenging times of the independence movement. He highlighted how Hindi, as a means of communication, played a pivotal role in carrying forward the freedom struggle across the entire country, fostering unity among diverse languages and dialects.
The Home Minister noted that both the movements for 'Swaraj' (self-rule) and 'Swabhasha' (mother tongue) were simultaneous and intertwined in India's history. Recognizing Hindi's importance in the freedom movement and post-independence, the framers of the Constitution officially designated Hindi as the national language on September 14, 1949.
He stressed the principle that languages evolve from complexity to simplicity, emphasizing that India's diverse languages and dialects are part of the nation's cultural heritage. Hindi, he asserted, does not compete with any other Indian language but seeks to empower them all. By strengthening all languages, a stronger nation can be built, and Hindi can serve as a medium to elevate local languages.
The Home Minister advocated the use of simple and clear Hindi in official work, expressing confidence that the Department of Official Language's efforts, combined with insights from various mother tongues, would lead Hindi to gain acceptance in scientific and technological domains, solidifying its status as a rich official language. He extended congratulations to all on the occasion of Hindi Diwas.
