Chennai: Linguistic chauvinism seems to be rearing its ugly head in India once again. DMK chief Karunanidhi has lambasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government at the Centre for giving Hindi priority over other languages for official use.
The veteran leader has criticised the directives from Ministry of Home Affairs where it asks political leaders to use Hindi on priority basis on official social media interactions.
"No one can deny that it is a beginning to impose Hindi against one's wish. This would be seen as an attempt to treat non- Hindi speakers as second class citizens," he accused.
He warned the Modi government saying it should focus on the country's development rather than promoting Hindi language.
"All well wishers want Modi to focus on economic and social development. Language battlefields have not yet dried. History has recorded anti - Hindi agitation. Can we forget Nehru's assurance that English would be official language as long as non Hindi speakers want? No attempt made to make official language of states as official languages of Centre," said the party chief.
However, MoS, Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju clarified the ministry's stand saying Hindi was not being promoted at the cost of regional languages. "Hindi is our official language and we need to promote it. But this does not mean that we will discourage the use of regional languages. Promotion of Hindi language does not mean that we are discouraging other regional languages. We have to move ahead other," he said.
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