Demanding linguistic equality is not chauvinism, says Stalin

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, who has been posing questions to the BJP-led Union government on the three language policy under the National Education Policy (NEP), on Thursday said that demanding linguistic equality is not chauvinism while recalling Franklin Leonard’s quote that “When you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.”

Stalin said he was reminded of the quote when some “entitled bigots” branded the DMK-led Tamil Nadu as “chauvinists and anti-nationals” for demanding Tamil language’s rightful place in Tamil Nadu.

“Demanding linguistic quality is not chauvinism,” Stalin said on X. “Do you want to know what Chauvinism looks like? Chauvinism is naming the three criminal laws that govern 140 crore (1,400 million) citizens in a language that Tamils cannot even pronounce or comprehend by reading. Chauvinism is treating the state that contributes the most to the nation as second-class citizens and denying its fair share for refusing to swallow the poison called NEP.” He added that imposition breeds enmity.

“The very people who glorify Godse’s ideology have the audacity to question the patriotism of DMK and its government…while their ideological forefather is the one who assassinated ‘Bapu’ Gandhi”, Stalin said adding that the party contributed the highest amount of funds during the Chinese Aggression, Bangladesh Liberation War, and Kargil War. “Hence, the true chauvinists and anti-nationals are the Hindi zealots who believe their entitlement is natural but our resistance is treason,” Stalin said.

In response, Tamil Nadu’s BJP called Stalin’s fear over the three-language policy hallucinatory. “Having realised that the opposition to the three-language policy hasn’t yielded support from the common people, Thiru @mkstalin has now jumped to the imaginary Hindi imposition,” Annamalai said on X.

“Thiru @mkstalin, do you know in the matriculation schools run by your partymen, Tamil is not even taught compulsorily and is a language of choice for children? You cannot fool people anymore, Thiru Stalin!” Ananamlai said, adding that the 16th amendment of the Indian constitution, popularly known as the Anti-Secession Bill, was introduced only to keep DMK’s secessionist ideas in check.

Amid the row, the BJP has launched a signature campaign in support of the NEP amid the ruling state government of the DMK on an offensive against it. The DMK wants Tamil Nadu’s two language policy of English and Tamil which has been in place since 1968 to continue and has accused the BJP of trying to impose Hindi through the three language policy.

BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan, who was leading a signature campaign in Chennai, was stopped by the police on Thursday. Her movement was restricted as the police said that it was affecting the movement of traffic. “I was made to wait in the hot sun for three hours,” she told reporters. “I condemn the state government for not taking any action on the DMK members who gathered and raised slogans against me.”