New Delhi:
Cricketer R. The political debate has intensified over the comments made by Ashwin regarding Hindi language. Ashwin had said that Hindi is not the national language of India, but only an official language. Now Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai has supported him on this and said that Hindi is a contact language, which works as a language of convenience.
Cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin was attending the convocation ceremony at a private college near Chennai. He asked the students in which language they would like to hear his speech. When Ashwin took the name of English, the students clapped. Then he mentioned Tamil language, on which the students clapped even louder. But when Ashwin took the name of Hindi, there was silence in the auditorium, there was no reaction. Ashwin commented on this in Tamil. He said that I felt I should say that Hindi is not our national language, it is only an official language.
After this incident, this comment of Ashwin went viral on social media and it is being discussed a lot. Some people supported his statement, while some criticized it.
Responding to Ravichandran Ashwin’s comments, Annamalai said that Hindi is a contact language. He said that this is true. Annamalai said that it is just a contact language, a language of convenience. I or anyone else is not saying that Hindi is the national language and Ashwin ji is right.
The issue of ‘Hindi imposition’ has been a sensitive issue in Tamil Nadu and several protests and campaigns have been organized in the state over the years. In October last year, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M.K. Stalin had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi objecting to linking the golden jubilee celebrations of Chennai Doordarshan with Hindi Month celebrations. He had said that celebrating such Hindi-based programs in non-Hindi speaking states should be avoided.
Stalin had written a letter saying that as you know. The Constitution of India does not give the status of national language to any language. Hindi and English are used only for official purposes such as law making, judiciary and communication between the central and state governments. In such circumstances, giving special place to Hindi in a multilingual country like India and celebrating Hindi Month in non-Hindi speaking states can be considered an attempt to degrade other languages.