Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday (February 27, 2025) termed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s charge of the “push for a monolithic Hindi identity” as “shallow attempts to divide society” made to hide “poor governance”.
“Poor governance will never be hidden by such shallow attempts to divide society. It will be interesting to know what the Leader of the Opposition, @RahulGandhi Ji, has to say on this subject. Does he, as MP of a Hindi-speaking seat, agree?,” Mr. Vaishnaw posted on X quoting Mr. Stalin’s statement.
In his post on Thursday, Mr. Stalin said: “My dear sisters and brothers from other States, Ever wondered how many Indian languages Hindi has swallowed? Bhojpuri, Maithili, Awadhi, Braj, Bundeli, Garhwali, Kumaoni, Magahi, Marwari, Malvi, Chhattisgarhi, Santhali, Angika, Ho, Kharia, Khortha, Kurmali, Kurukh, Mundari, and many more are now gasping for survival.”
He added: “The push for a monolithic Hindi identity is what kills ancient mother tongues. UP and Bihar were never just ‘Hindi heartlands’. Their real languages are now relics of the past. Tamil Nadu resists because we know where this ends…”
Incidentally, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s remarks came a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said southern States will not be affected by the delimitation exercise, stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ensured that not a single Lok Sabha seat was going to be reduced on a pro-rata basis. Mr. Shah said the southern States would get their rightful share of any increase in seats.
Earlier, Mr. Stalin had said that Tamil Nadu could lose eight parliamentary seats due to delimitation if it was based on population changes recorded in the Census. He has called for an all-party meeting on March 5 to discuss the impact of delimitation on Tamil Nadu.
Describing the Home Minister’s assurance as confusing, the DMK has asserted that the question of whether the pro-rata basis will be based on the existing number of constituencies or population has not been answered clearly. The party is of the view that the pro-rata increase in seats should be on the basis of the 1971 Census and the existing strength of Lok Sabha.
