‘Anti-Tamil’ cartoon on anti-Hindi stir sparks row

Jun 09, 2012 |

chennai

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Even before the dust could settle on the B.R. Ambedkar cartoon controversy, another toon in NCERT books has evoked protest.

MDMK general secretary Vaiko has taken exception to depiction in class 12 books of the anti-Hindi agitation of the 1960s in Tamil Nadu and demanding removal of the caricature.

In identical letters to HRD minister Kapil Sibal and NCERT director P.K. Sinclair, he has said the cartoon on page 153 in the chapter ‘Politics in India, since Independence’ in the science book hurts sentiments of the people of the state and demanded that the Centre remove it.

Mr Vaiko said the anti-Hindi agitation was a glorious chapter in Tamil Nadu political history, but the toon showed students who participated in the stir as being “ignorant and indulged in violence”.

The cartoon was a total distortion of history and hurts sentiments of the people of the state and maligned the historic Dravidian movement, he said.

The anti-Hindi agitation played a significant role in the Dravidian movement and was one of the reasons the DMK captured power in 1967.

It was launched by DMK founder C.N. Annadurai after Hindi was thrust as the sole official language of India in 1965 despite an assurance by then PM Jawaharlal Nehru to the contrary.

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