Tamilnadu Politics, Cinema: anti hindi agitation 1965

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English is the most widely used language for communication around the world. Around 1.5 billion people speak the language. But only 25% are spoken by native speakers whereas Hindi is spoken by 480 million people and a larger percentage is spoken by native speakers1.

History of Anti Hindi Agitation2

In Tamil Nadu, the campaign against Hindi is over seven decades old. The genesis of the campaign can be traced to the opposition spearheaded by E.V. Ramasamy, also called Periyar, to the decision of the C Rajagopalachari Cabinet in August 1937 to make Hindi compulsory in secondary schools. At that time, Rajagopalachari, or Rajaji as he was known, was Premier of Madras Presidency.

According to Rajaji, a biography by Rajmohan Gandhi, this was done in 125 schools and the Premier described Hindi as "chutney on the leaf" and said “taste it or leave it alone.” Even though he had remained unmoved till he quit office in October 1939, the British government, in February 1940, made Hindi optional.

The second round of anti-Hindi protests erupted in 1965 in the light of reports that Hindi would replace English as the official language. This triggered strong reactions. The DMK, then an emerging party, used the crisis in a deft way and the 1965 agitation was one of the important factors that helped the party capture power two years later.

Even after Arignar Anna came to power, the anti-Hindi agitation continued. Hindi, which was an optional subject in schools, was removed by the DMK government led by Anna. Similarly, since Hindi was the language of communication in National Cadet Corps training, NCC was removed from government schools. It seemed as if Tamil Nadu was slowly moving away from the national mainstream 19.

Freedom fighters from non hindi speaking states such as Subramaniam Bharathi (Bharathiyar), H.Doreswamy (Karnataka)

Source: Wikipedia

2021 - Do we still need to alienate an official language even if you don't promote it? Is it not being out of a common thread that binds every Indian?

43% of the population in India speak Hindi, a maximum of 6% of people speak Tamil3. In Tamilnadu the growth of Hindi speakers has gone up by 50% between 2011 and 20214,18 but still it was only about 13% of the population speaking Hindi. Some of the reasons for the growth of Hindi language in the state are 1. Education - CBSE, ICSE school students can choose a second language, 2. People who look for jobs outside Tamilnadu., 3. TV programmes - e.g., Ramayana, Mahabharata, 4. North Indian workers who work in Tamilnadu, business owners speak some sort of Hindi to communicate with. North Indians who come to do business, work in the state also learn Tamil so there are benefits both ways.

In the IT sector I have personally known some people where they come onsite for work and have shared their experiences working with north Indians. Since people from Tamilnadu are unable to speak in Hindi they miss out on many opportunities, career growth and unable to build a rapport with senior management. In non-Hindi speaking states there are more English speakers. In Tamilnadu only 18.49% of people speak English.

Being multilingual has its own benefits. Some of them are 1. Cognitive benefits, 2. Alzheimer’s disease was found to affect bilingual people slower than monolingual speakers,3. More rational decision-making skills and many other benefits7.

The New Educational Policy 2020 has a system of 5+3+4 years education system which has been reformed after 34 years. The new National Education Policy (NEP) recommends that all students will learn three languages in their school under the 'formula'. At least two of the three languages should be native to India. Hindi is not mandatory for non-Hindi speaking states due to protests by certain states in the country. This is detrimental for future generations as they would be left out on various career, business, other opportunities due to the anti Hindi stance continuing in Tamilnadu by dravidian parties.

M Karunanidhi himself once said, 'I have sent Murasoli Maran to be my representative in Delhi because he speaks fluent Hindi', that includes his grand nephew14. R. Natraj, Former Director General of Police, Legislator- Mylapore.

Source: IndiaToday.in

When the question was raised by late DMK Leader M.Karunanidhi if Ram was an engineer to build a bridge (Sethusamudram Project) it created a lot of furore within the UPA alliance, Hindu community. He recited this poem in Hindi in a public meeting "Hindustan hai desh hamara, janse apne humko pyara Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isaai, aapas main hain bhai bhai Bhai hoga bhai hamara, aisa hoga chalan hamara (India is our country and we love it more than our lives. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians are all brothers. Brothers will be brothers, such will be our conduct)" 32. This clearly proves that if we speak the language (Hindi) of the alliance, spoken by the majority of the people in the country even broken relationships can be fixed and good rapport can be built.

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Sunshine Senior Secondary School 10, Chennai run by Sabareesan, is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The CBSE schools follow the three-language formula and Hindi has to be mandatorily taught right up to Class 8. In effect, the schools run by the DMK leaders teach Hindi to their students8. Some of the DMK family members studied in below English medium (not Tamil medium) schools

1. Madras Christian College, Chennai – MK.Stalin

2. Don Bosco Egmore, Chennai – Kalanidhi Maran, Dayanidhi Maran, Udhaynidhi Stalin

Source:https://bit.ly/3j3IniH

Historically anti Hindi stance has resulted in 70 or more lost lives, it may have given political mileage for dravidian parties but now we are in 2021 and we should rethink and accept Hindi as an official language as per constitution part 8 and put an end to this outdated ideology as it could be a hindrance for a common man, woman in their career, business and other walks of life. Imposing any language on people shouldn’t be accepted but let’s wake up and be practical by applying rationale thinking, a principle of Dravidam. By applying rationale thinking everyone will only benefit more in many aspects of their lives.

A study by Geneva University found that 10 percent of Switzerland’s GDP could be attributed to the country’s multilingual heritage and abilities 20. Learning Hindi has its benefits such as being able to move to any state in the country, better chances for central government jobs and better financial prospects23

Even if you don’t want to learn Hindi let us not oppose it as it is not good for the centre, state relationships. Subramania Bharathi (Bharathiyar), a poet, freedom fighter, forward thinker who believed in social equality spoke Hindi25 and multiple languages29. H. Doreswamy (above picture), a freedom fighter from Karnataka spoke Hindi24 and was instrumental in translating freedom movement speeches in Kannada to other freedom fighters in the state. 32% of financial grants are provided by the Central government to Tamilnadu 12, so it is wise to have a harmonious relationship with the central government for the betterment of the state and its people. Some of the previous dravidian governments that were part of a national political alliance with the central government brought some benefits to the state when there was a good state, central relationship33. A lot more could have been done if the dravidian parties had a good rapport and relationship with the national political parties.Tamil is one of the official 22 languages of the constitution of India21 and has been added to the classical languages list22. All this is good for Tamil language and recognition.

Source: 38

If the dravidian parties want to promote Tamil then let them set up language centres around the state, country to promote Tamil learning, create a separate ministry with a budget allocation for promoting tamil language. Some of the leading media channels in the country, part of DMK family, such as SUN TV Group, asia’s largest media group16 2nd largest media group by viewership in India15 (33 TV channels,70 radio stations, 3 Daily Newspapers, 6 Magazines) and DMK family owned Kalaignar TV can promote Tamil learning by allocating a few hours per week to teach Tamil and there are many other ways of promoting Tamil as a language to non-Tamil speakers.

Source:37

Let us not accept language disability promoted by certain political parties in the country and embrace diversity, culture and language. The Hindi movement in South India was started in the year 1918 by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi saw the need to unite the northern and southern states of the country in the greatest interest of integration of the nation, as Hindi was spoken by the largest section of the people of India.

             Source: Madras Local History Group - Facebook

Therefore, he founded the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha at Madras to propagate the study of Hindi in the then Madras Presidency and princely states of Banganapalle, Cochin, Hyderabad, Mysore, Pudukkottai, Sanduru and Travancore28. The growth of Hindi learners in the recent years proves that people have started realising that anti hindi agitation ideology of 1965 is not pragmatic4

Let us support and promote Tamil language, oppose imposition of any language but stop anti hindi stance. Freedom fighters are more patriotic than any political party that prioritises their interests than national interests. Many freedom fighters have lost their lives, wealth, families and have fought for freedom. If such patriots didn’t have an issue with Hindi language then we should stop alienation of Hindi in the state to join the common thread that unites us with the rest of the country. In Europe, although there is preference for union countries to speak in their mother tongue as their preferred language, still 93% of children learn English 30. 80% of 15-30year olds from the European Union felt confident in writing and speaking 2 foreign languages34.

First let us be an Indian that accepts all kinds of diversity and then a broad minded, true rationale thinking Thamizhan!

I'm a consultant based in Europe. My interests are in Indian history, politics, economics, stock markets, technology and lifestyle. I'm a progressive thinker who supports balanced economic and social equality.

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References:

1.https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/10/which-languages-are-most-widely-spoken/

2.https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/why-is-tamil-nadu-opposed-to-imposition-of-hindi/article18401295.ece

3.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers_in_India

4.https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/despite-linguistic-politics-tamils-speaking-hindi-up-50-in-10-years/articleshow/66021459.cms

5.https://www.thehindu.com/data/what-percentage-of-people-prefer-to-speak-hindi-across-states/article27451589.ece

6. https://bilingualkidspot.com/2016/05/31/benefits-raising-bilingual-children/

7. https://www.brainscape.com/academy/benefits-of-being-multilingual/

https://www.thequint.com/news/education/new-education-policy-medium-of-instruction-mother-tongue-faq#read-more

https://theprint.in/india/schools-owned-by-dmk-leaders-teach-hindi-while-party-outrages-against-imposition/247374/

10. http://www.sunshineschool.in/senior/management.aspx