Alagiri dares Annamalai to gain assurance from Modi on Hindi issue

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K S Alagiri on Friday dared his state BJP counterpart K Annamalai to secure an assurance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Hindi language imposition for non-Hindi speaking states.

Rebuking Annamalai for questioning the rationale behind a Hindi-opposing DMK and the Congress which imposed Hindi remaining in the same alliance, Alagiri accused the history-ignorant state BJP chief of tweaking facts for political reasons and wondered, “will Annamalai make efforts to secure an assurance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for non-Hindi speaking states, as did PM Nehru in the distant past? Does Annamalai have the courage to secure such an assurance from Modi if he really respects the sentiments of non-Hindi speaking states like Tamil Nadu?”

Remarking that it would not further the cause of healthy politics if Annamalai makes statements in haste without reading issues thoroughly, Alagiri expressed surprise at the state BJP chief being ignorant of the assurance given by Nehru in 1961 and the legal protection offered by Prime Minister’s Shastri and Indira Gandhi for continuing with English as an official language through amendments.

Advising Annamalai to read papers and learn Anna and Kalaignar’s acknowledgement of the assurance, the TNCC chief said that Annamalai had managed to crack the UPSC without knowing Hindi because of the Congress regime and he could not have done it now. Alagiri also added that Annamalai cannot deny Hindi imposition if he thoroughly reads the recommendation of the Official Languages Committee led by Amit Shah.