Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan today extended his thoughts on the language controversy, adding on to the political row that had erupted following Union Home Minister Amit Shah's call to culturally unify India with Hindi as it's national language on Saturday.
Vijayan took to Twitter and began by saying that the idea of Hindi unifying the country is absurd in the first place because it is not the mother tongue for the majority of Indians. He added to this by equating the move to inflict Hindi with slavery. "The move to inflict Hindi upon them amounts to enslaving them," Vijayan said, "Union Minister's statement is a war cry against the mother tongues of non-Hindi speaking people."
He continued by saying that no Indian should feel alienated because of language since India's strength is its ability to embrace diversity. He slammed the 'Sangh Parivar', accusing them of 'divisive policies'. "Sangh Parivar must relinquish divisive policies," Kerala's Chief Minister said, "They must realize that people can see through the ploy; that this is an attempt to divert attention from the real problems."
Home Minister Amit Shah's 'need for unifying nation through one language' speech yesterday on the occasion of Hindi Diwas triggered a row with several opposition leaders training their guns at him asking him to reconsider his appeal as it "poses a danger to national unity".
Speaking as the chief guest at a function to grace Hindi Diwas, Shah had said that while unity in diversity is India's defining trait, a common language is needed as a culturally unifying factor.
Several political leaders from South India like MK Stalin, with a passion for defending their regional language in the national stage, had asked Shah to take back his remarks and said they pose "a danger to the national unity.
