In Tamil Nadu’s century-old linguistic rights war lies many a lesson

CHENNAI: If language were a geographical entity, then Hindi or its imposition is definitely a forbidden zone that no party must dare to venture into in Tamil Nadu. Many stalwarts of Indian polity, from the once-mighty C Rajagopalachari aka Rajaji in the 1930s to towering Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1960s, had bit dust, attempting the misadventure of imposing Hindi on Tamil Nadu.

The Dravidian hinterland has been impervious to more than a few linguistic onslaughts, mainly from Delhi, since the early half of the last century. The resistance is unlikely to change anytime, even in the near future in Tamil Nadu, with all but the state BJP firing in unison against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP and his union ministers advocating the trilingual policy.

No wonder the DMK regime led by Chief Minister MK Stalin threw its hat in the ring without hesitation. Perhaps the maverick DMK must owe its raw bravado to its parent body, Dravidar Kazhagam or its ideological mentor 'Periyar' EV Ramasamy, who launched the first massive public resistance movement against the Hindi imposition attempt by Delhi in colonial India.

Back in 1938, when the late Rajaji-led Congress regime proposed the introduction of 'Hindustani' in over 100 secondary schools in the then Madras Presidency in colonial India, the Justice Party, the forerunner of the modern-day DMK, turned the city into the epicentre of what panned out to be a massive pan-Tamil Nadu public language movement.

Regardless of Rajaji seeking to downplay the imposition as not being incumbent upon students to pass Hindi to graduate from classes 6 to 8 then, just like the modern-day BJP argues that it was only upskilling the students by teaching a new language, the movement against Hindi imposition led by Periyar, and overwhelmingly backed up the state people, spread like a raging fire, and culminated with the death of youths Thalamuthu and Natarajan, who are still remembered as the first martyrs of the linguistic war in the state (Chief Minister Stalin promised to renovate the memorial of the same Natarajan a few days ago in his native Cuddalore).

The demise of the two youth icons of anti-Hindi agitation in the prisons on January 15, 1939 (Natarajan) and March 11, 1939 (Thalamuthu) forced the fall of the Rajaji regime in 1939, and with it, the eventual revocation of the executive order by Governor Lord Erskine the following year. Though the fire of the anti-Hindi movement died down after the withdrawal of the order, the embers always remained in the people's hearts. It exploded like an active volcano and consumed the then Congress government in post-independence Tamilnadu in 1963 when the DMK led by CN Annadurai revived the struggle following the enforcement of the Official Languages Act 1963 (end of English as associate language by January 26, 1965 after the 15-year period).

This episode of the anti-Hindi movement also saw the arrest of DMK founder Anna twice – once even for attempting to burn the Constitution. However, the more than two-year-long protest peaked when 'Keezhapaluvur' Chinnasamy of DMK set himself ablaze at Tiruchy Railway Station after shouting, "Tamil Vazhga, Hindi Ozhiga" (Hail Tamil, Perish Hindi) and thereby fueling the anti-Hindi fire galvanized by the student community across the state.

A must-mention in the speeches of the modern-day Dravidian leaders, his 'sacrifice' has also been immortalized as a statue at Kambarasampettai in native Tiruchy now. The unrest that ensued thereafter, and the ultimate overthrow of the Congress regime two years later in 1967, is history.

Nonetheless, the fire and resolve of the Tamils and Tamil Nadu politicians to steadfastly fight imperialist tendencies of the rulers from Delhi, be it language or infringement of education and socioeconomic rights of states. The reason probably lies in the contours of the state polity, which sees it as more than mere linguistic imperialism.

For a state in the vanguard of preaching regional autonomy, federalism and celebrating its racial identity, even a seeming undermining of its rights or language is an assault on its cultural identity. It would make sense to interpret from this perspective the inferences of MK Stalin and his lieutenants about the recent statement of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar that one "must undermine the culture and destroy the language to conquer a land."

A very highly placed member of the Tamil Nadu government was not averse to reasoning on condition of anonymity that viewing the BJP's imposition of National Education Policy and Hindi through the prism of student's education or language rights was only a superficial understanding of the subject.

"They (BJP) want to bring everyone under the umbrella of Hindus (Hindutva). But, the people of Tamil Nadu say, 'Yes! We are Hindus. But we are Tamils first.' Tamils refuse to be subsumed by the RSS idea of mono-culturalism. Language is their tool to engulf Tamils into the mono-cultural Hindutva umbrella. Repeated attempts by jingoistic right-wing elements have failed more than once in history. And it would fail again because of the people's political culture. Hence, they are irritated. Why would an Odisha-born and Odia-speaking Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan feel agitated by Tamil Nadu resisting Hindi? Simple - Tamil Nadu is stonewalling the mono-culturalism of the RSS that groomed him. Tamil Nadu and its people are not rejecting the policy of just the BJP, but also the road map of the RSS to establish its dominion over the land."

Fair to say, one of the leaders from the Hindi heartland who seemingly understood the political heartbeat of the Tamils was Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. His statement in the Parliament, "You will never win over the people of Tamil Nadu," was a potent commentary on the ideological moorings and language-love of the state people who take pride in celebrating the naming of their landscape after the language and who frown at a governor casually suggesting an alternative to it.

For the people of Tamil Nadu, the Tamil language is integral to their culture. Arguably, it is also why campaigns like "Hindi theriyathu poda" or tarring of Hindi names on railway stations and highway signages readily find traction even among the Instagram-crazy youngsters of the state. The high-decibel Jallikattu campaign, which forced the union government into going back on its order and allowing the annual bull-taming culture to continue during the Pongal festival, was also a pan-Tamil expression of simmering discontent and resentment against the right-wing push towards mono-culturalism.

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Understandably, the two Dravidian majors, nationalism preaching Tamil Nadu unit of the Congress party, Communist parties, Ambedkarite VCK of the INDIA bloc, and even the PMK on the other side of the political spectrum have promptly registered their dissent against the BJP linking Samagraha Shiksha scheme funding to adherence to trilingual policy, irrespective of their political differences and alliance affiliations, leaving the saffron party isolated ahead of an election year. Known for their otherwise equivocal approach towards the BJP, an emboldened AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami had also said, "Let us resolve to win with the rational bilingual policy of 'Tamil at heart, English for the world'," demonstrating to the rulers in Delhi why the two-language policy was non-negotiable in the political scheme of things, no matter the size and stature of the political party one were in. Politically, it would bode well for the proponents of Hindi imposition and NEP not to wake up Frankenstein's monster, the slaying of which has been child's play for Tamil Nadu for nearly a century.