Kamal Haasan: Battle for our language will be bigger than Jallikattu protest

We respect all languages, but our mother language will always be Tamil, said Makkal Needhi Maiam leader Kamal Haasan.

Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan Monday protested against Hindi imposition, saying the battle for the Tamil language will be “exponentially bigger” than the Jallikattu protest.

No “Shah, Sultan or Samrat” can break the promise made to protect our culture and Identity, the Makkal Needhi Maiam leader said while reacting to Home Minister Amit Shah’s pitch to make Hindi as India’s common and unifying language.

“Now you are constrained to prove to us that India will continue to be a free country. You must consult the people before you make a new law or a new scheme,” Haasan tweeted.

On the occasion of Hindi Diwas 2019, Amit Shah said that it was important to have a common language in the country that becomes the “mark of India’s identity globally”. He also appealed to the citizens of the country to increase the use of mother tongue and said by 2024 Hindi would have achieved new heights and the government will take it to all regions.

Amit Shah’s statement triggered a political row in Tamil Nadu and other states, with opposition parties claiming that the NDA government is trying to impose Hindi on non-native speakers. Politicians including Kerala Chief Minister Pinrayi Vijayan, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, DMK Leader MK Stalin, TN Congress President KS Alagiri, MDMK leader Vaiko and others slammed Amit’s Shah’s ‘One Nation, One Language’ policy. Even BJP’s allies in TN like PMK and AIADMK warned the centre that such steps could lead to adverse reactions all over the country.

Now, Kamal Haasan, the leader of MNM, has joined the bandwagon of politicians to slam Amit Shah’s idea of unifying India through Hindi. “Unity in diversity is a promise we made when we made India into a Republic. Now, no Shah, Sultan or Samrat should relent on that promise. We respect all languages, but our mother language will always be Tamil,” he said.

Haasan also said Jallikattu was just a protest and the battle for the Tamil language will be exponentially bigger than that. He said India or Tamil Nadu does not need or deserve such a battle. “Most of the nation happily sings their national anthem in Bengali with pride and will continue to do so. The reason is that the poet who wrote the national anthem gave due respect to all languages and cultures within the anthem,” he added.

Haasan also appealed to the Centre not to make an inclusive India into an exclusive one. “All will suffer because of such short-sighted folly,” he claimed. The MNM leader had earlier visited the family of Subhasri, who was crushed to death near Kamakshi hospital in Pallikaranai Thursday after a hoarding erected on the divider fell on her.

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