Opposing the Hindi month celebration along with the golden jubilee of DD Tamil (Doordarshan Chennai), Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put an end to holding such events in non-Hindi speaking states.

Celebrating Hindi Month in non-Hindi speaking states, Stalin said, would be seen as an attempt to belittle other languages. Besides the Chief Minister and the ruling DMK, political parties cutting across party-lines, barring the BJP, have condemned the event slated for Friday (October 18) evening and presided over by Governor RN Ravi.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Stalin wrote “As you are aware, the Constitution of India does not accord national language status to any language. Hindi and English are used only for official purposes such as legislation, judiciary and communication between the Union Government and the State Governments. In the circumstances, in a multilingual country like India, according special place to Hindi and celebrating Hindi month in non-Hindi speaking states is seen as an attempt to belittle other languages.”

While suggesting to avoid such functions in non-Hindi speaking states, he said if the Union Government still desired to hold such events, ‘celebration of the local language month in respective states must also be done with equal warmth’. “I also suggest that the Government of India can hold special events to celebrate the richness of all the classical languages that it has recognised in the respective states. This could enhance cordial relationships among all,” he emphasised.

Meanwhile the Students Wing of the DMK staged a protest demonstration in the city to protest the holding of Hindi month celebration by DD Tamil and clubbing it with the golden jubilee of the DD Kendra. Already, the Union I&B Ministry rechristening the DD Channel from ‘Pothigai’ (Western Ghats in South Tamil Nadu) to DD Tamil and changing the logo in saffron has invited condemnation.

The Congress, PMK, a constituent of the BJP-led NDA and other parties have condemned it as an attempt at imposing Hindi and demanded that the Hindi Month event be scrapped. “Celebrating Hindi is unjustified as it undermines the country’s pluralism. For, there are 122 languages spoken by a sizable population besides 1,599 other languages and Tamil being the oldest in the country,” PMK founder Ramadoss said in a statement, adding that celebrating Hindi alone is akin to insulting other languages.