News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 19th October 2024
Chief Minister MK Stalin and Governor RN Ravi engaged in a furious verbal sparring match after the official state hymn of Tamil Nadu, “Tamizh Thaai Valthu,” failed to include the “Dravidian nation.” So much so that accusations of “Hindi imposition” on the Tamil-speaking state quickly turned the blunder into the focal point of controversy. The singers left off the lyric “Thekkanamum adhil sirantha Dravida nal thiru naadum”—roughly translating to “the great Dravidian nation”—from the state hymn during the Hindi month valedictory performance at Doordarshan Kendra in Chennai.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister swiftly denounced the action. He asserted that the celebration of Hindi Month in places that do not speak Hindi is perceived as an attempt to denigrate other languages in a multilingual country, and he recommended that such celebrations be avoided.
“I strongly condemn the celebration of Hindi Month valedictory function along with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Chennai Doordarshan. Hon’ble @PMOIndia, The Constitution of India does not grant national language status to any language. In a multilingual nation, celebrating Hindi Month in non-Hindi speaking states is seen as an attempt to belittle other languages,” Stalin said.
“Therefore, I suggest that holding such Hindi-oriented events in non-Hindi speaking states could be avoided, and instead, the celebration of the local language month in the respective states should be encouraged,” he added.
However, the problem went beyond CM Stalin’s suggestion that the Center steer clear of Hindi-speaking events in the state; he also charged that Governor Ravi had eliminated the word “Dravidian” from the hymn “in the guise of celebrating India.” Stalin demanded that the governor be removed for “deliberately insulting” the Tamil Nadu people, claiming that he has a “Dravidian allergy.” The governor of Tamil Nadu took offense at this and retaliated against the chief minister by calling it “unfortunately cheap.” Stalin’s charges, according to Ravi, “lower the dignity” of the Chief Minister’s constitutional position.
Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi responded to the CM’s letter by stating that there are forces both inside and outside of India that want to impede the development of the nation. Ravi acknowledged the shifting attitudes towards Hindi in Tamil Nadu, stating that although there was initial opposition, he later discovered that a large number of students in the state had mastered the language.
Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi responded to the CM’s letter by stating that there are forces both inside and outside of India that want to impede the development of the nation. Ravi acknowledged the shifting attitudes towards Hindi in Tamil Nadu, stating that although there was initial opposition, he later discovered that a large number of students in the state had mastered the language.
“First, when I came here, Hindi was not a welcome language in Tamil Nadu but when I started meeting students, I was happily surprised that their Hindi was better than mine. There is a greater acceptance of Hindi among people of Tamil Nadu… Hindi is not a language of imposition of language in Tamil Nadu. Each language is to be celebrated. Each language is for all of us to be proud of,” the governor said.
BJP National Spokesperson CR Kesavan also lashed out at the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and said his letter to the PM has betrayed the essence of the “spirit of cooperative federalism” envisioned by Dr BR Ambdekar and other founders of the Constitution.
“While Prime Minister Narendra Modi regards our remarkable linguistic diversity as our civilisational strength, the DMK has a long history of using language as a partisan political tool. PM Modi has steadfastly committed to preserving our great linguistic heritage and promoting our remarkable linguistic diversity. But the CM’s letter to the PM today betrays the very essence in spirit of cooperative federalism as envisioned by Dr BR Ambedkar and the other founders of our scared constitution,” the BJP Spokesperson said.
