New Delhi: Amid controversy over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s call to culturally unify India with Hindi as its national language, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, currently lodged in Tihar jail, on Wednesday urged Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president KS Alagiri to join the protest organised by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to oppose the imposition of Hindi.
Asking his family to tweet on his behalf, Chidambaram said: “I urge the TNCC president KS Alagiri to ask all Congress workers to join the state-wide protest announced by the DMK on September 20 to oppose the imposition of Hindi.”
“A dangerous idea that Hindi alone can unite the people of this country has been floated. The Tamil people, as well as all others who speak other languages, will never allow the imposition of Hindi,” Chidambaram’s second tweet read.
Earlier, Shah’s comment on making Hindi as its national language triggered a row when some opposition leaders trained guns on him demanding to reconsider his appeal as it “poses a danger to the national unity.”
Shah in his address on Hindi Diwas on September 14 had appealed the people to accept Hindi as the national language to get connected.
The former Finance Minister, who turned 74 just a couple of days earlier, has been vocal about the issues in the country and has used the social media platform to express his views on them.
Through another tweet, he clarified that though he supported the “development” of all languages he was against the idea that “Hindi” would act as the lone unifier in India.
“We support the development of all languages, but we will never accept the idea that Hindi alone will unite the people of this country,” reads Chidambaram’s tweet.
Earlier yesterday, the Congress leader had also condemned the arrest of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah under the Public Safety Act (PSA) by the Centre and the state administration.