An 85-year-old Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) cadre and farmer, Thangavel from Karumalaikoodal near Mettul allegedly died by self-immolation on Saturday.
Thangavel was demonstrating outside DMK's office in Salem district over Hindi imposition with a banner that wrote 'Modi government, central government, we don't want Hindi'.
As per reports, Thangavel reportedly poured petrol on his body and set himself ablaze and died on the spot at around 11 am. Thangavel was distressed with the alleged Centre's move to bring Hindi as a medium of education.
Following that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin came down heavily at the Central Government.
"Cadres not to resort to the extreme step of ending life. Fight against Hindi imposition won't stop until demand reaches the ears of Union Government," Chief Minister Stalin said reacting to the incident.
Earlier in October, Chief Minister MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government moved a resolution against "Hindi imposition" in the state Assembly.
The resolution said the report submitted to President Droupadi Murmu recently by Union Home Minister Amit Shah-led Parliamentary Committee on Official Language has been debated across the country today. Many recommendations that have been made in that report are detrimental to the people of the non-Hindi speaking States including Tamil Nadu and contrary to the promise made by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, said the Tamil Nadu government.
"This House expresses concern that the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee, now presented, are against the two-language policy resolution moved and passed by Perarignar Anna in this August House, contrary to the promise made by the then Prime Minister Nehru to the non-Hindi speaking States and are against the use of English as Official language ensured by the resolutions passed in 1968 and 1976 on Official Language," said the resolution.
Now, Tamil Nadu has once again been pushed to the forefront to defend the mother tongue Tamil, to keep English as the official language, to preserve all the 22 languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution and to uphold the rights of the people of non-Hindi speaking States, it said.
"This House urges the Union Government not to implement the recommendations made in the Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language submitted by its Chairman to President on September 9, 2022, which are against the State languages including Tamil and also against the interest of the people who speak those languages," the resolution said.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs walked out from the House as the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution against "Hindi imposition."
According to the Tamil Nadu government, the parliamentary panel recommendations included: "Hindi should be the medium of instruction instead of English in the educational institutions of the Union Government such as IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and Central Universities. In order to make Hindi a common language, Hindi should be made the medium of instruction in all educational institutions of the Union
Government including Technical and Non-Technical educational institutions and Kendriya Vidyalayas."
The state government said the parliamentary panel's recommendation also said that in the employment of the youth, the English language should be removed from the compulsory papers and only Hindi should be given priority.
Earlier that month, Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the recommendations should not be accepted or implemented since they are against the federal principles of the Constitution, detrimental to the multilingual structure of our country and question the future by ignoring English and completely excluding the 22 State languages of non-Hindi speaking States which are mentioned in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
( With inputs from ANI )
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