Hindi imposition row: BJP leader demands Stalin to tender apology

CHENNAI: Refuting Chief Minister M K Stalin’s statement on the Union Home Minister Amit Shah-led panel on official language recommendations, BJP state vice president Narayanan Thirupathy condemned him for issuing statements in an “irresponsible” manner based on media reports.

"The Chief Minister has issued a statement based on a media report. It was unacceptable and strongly condemnable. The DMK leaders resort to such a strategy to whip up people's emotion by spreading wrong information for their vote bank politics," Tirupathy told reporters.

Citing media reports on Amit Shah-led committee on official language, Stalin said the committee has recommended English should be replaced by Hindi as medium of instruction in all central institutions, he said, adding that it was factually wrong.

The committee has recommended Hindi as a medium of instruction in institutions in Hindi-speaking states. It further said the regional language of the respective state should be the medium instead of English. This will pave the way for the introduction of Tamil as a medium of instruction in the Central government institutions in Tamil Nadu. I wonder why the DMK leader is against this?"

He also rejected Stalin’s statement that Hindi would be the mode of communication across the country. "The committee's recommendation will facilitate communication from the Centre to state in the respective regional language. If this comes to effect, the communication from the Centre to Tamil Nadu will be in Tamil. Why is the DMK leader opposing it," he wondered.