MK Stalin didn’t mince phrases. A “propaganda instrument for Hindi imposition”, is how the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin described the swap to Hindi by the State-run insurer Life Insurance coverage Company of India or LIC on its web site on Tuesday, demanding an “instant rollback of this linguistic tyranny”.
“The LIC web site has been lowered to a propaganda instrument for Hindi imposition. Even the choice to pick out English is displayed in Hindi. Even the choice to pick out English is displayed in Hindi,” complained Mr Stalin on X.
“We demand a direct rollback of this linguistic tyranny,” he stated.
Be it central authorities or LIC, they need to realise that they belong to all individuals and never solely to Hindi talking individuals, stated Dr S Ramadoss, founding father of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK).
“A sudden desire for Hindi alone shouldn’t be acceptable when all of the language talking individuals in India are clients of LIC. Even shopper items value Rs.10 are despatched to Tamil Nadu on the market, the identify of which is printed in both Tamil or English. However LIC, which has an enormous buyer base in Tamil Nadu, has solely the principle web page of its web site in Hindi and has created an surroundings the place they’ve to go looking and select English language providers, which is an insult to Tamil Nadu clients,” stated Dr Ramadoss, including that the “dwelling web page of LIC web site ought to be modified to English instantly”.
Most lately, in October, Chief Minister MK Stalin had posed a collection of inquiries to Governor RN Ravi concerning a lacking line from Tamil Nadu’s state anthem throughout its rendition in an occasion. Mr Stalin criticised the Governor for “vilifying the Dravidian race” and making an attempt to “impose Hindi all over the place”.
Tamil Nadu has a protracted historical past of anti-Hindi agitation relationship again to the Nineteen Thirties. The huge protests towards Hindi imposition within the Sixties had catapulted Mr Stalin’s occasion, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), to energy. The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had assured persevering with English as a hyperlink language so long as non-Hindi-speaking states settle for Hindi.
The state has additionally been vehemently opposing the three-language components as a part of the brand new schooling coverage, which might require college students to study Hindi as a 3rd language.
Final yr in March, a directive from India’s meals security authority to rename curd packets as “Dahi” in Hindi was modified after it sparked a backlash from Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister and milk producers, who noticed it as an try to impose Hindi on non-Hindi talking states.