No place for Hindi in Tamil Nadu then, now and forever: Stalin

DMK president and Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday paid homage to the state’s “Language Martyrs,” who sacrificed their lives during past anti-Hindi agitations, asserting that there was “no place” for Hindi in Tamil Nadu “then, now or forever”.

Marking Language Martyrs Day, Stalin said Tamil Nadu had consistently and unitedly resisted what he described as attempts to impose Hindi, protesting “with the same intensity every time it was imposed”.

“A state that loved its language like its life stood together against Hindi imposition,” he said in a social media post, adding, “Language Martyrs Day: there is no place for Hindi then, now and forever (in Tamil Nadu).”

The chief minister shared a short video recalling the history of the anti-Hindi movement, which peaked in 1965, highlighting the sacrifices of the martyrs and the role played by late DMK leaders C.N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi in championing the language cause.

Stalin said Tamil Nadu’s leadership of the anti-Hindi agitation helped safeguard the rights and identities of various linguistic communities across the subcontinent.

“I pay my grateful respects to those martyrs who gave their precious lives for Tamil. No more life should be lost in the language struggle; our love for Tamil will never die,” he said, vowing continued opposition to Hindi imposition. He accompanied the post with hashtags including #LanguageMartyrsDay and #StopHindiImposition.

The term “Language Martyrs” refers to those who died, many by self-immolation, during the anti-Hindi agitations across Tamil Nadu in 1964–65.

Tamil Nadu continues to follow the two-language policy of Tamil and English. The DMK has repeatedly alleged that Hindi is being imposed through the Centre’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

With PTI inputs