Three Tamil Nadu MPs from different parties on Sunday made a strong pitch for making Tamil one of the official languages and opposed any move to impose Hindi on the country.
MPs M. Thambidurai (AIADMK), T.K.S. Elangovan (DMK) and Thol Thirumaavalavan (VCK) raised the demand while participating in the debate in Lok Sabha on the completion of 60 years of Parliament.
Mr Thambidurai said Tamil being “one of the ancient and classical languages” should be made an official language of the country.
“Our language must be respected and this Parliament must come forward to enact a law to make ours an official language”, he said, adding that giving importance to just one language (Hindi) was ‘unjustified’ and ‘inappropriate’. Not just Tamil but other languages in the country too must be accorded equal status. “This is our avowed policy and principle”.
DMK’s Elangovan said his party had even in 1957 demanded that Hindi should not be imposed on non-Hindi speaking states.
“At that time, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave an assurance that Hindi will not be imposed and until the non-Hindi speaking states want, English will also continue as the link language. When DMK member Murasoli Maran sought legislation in this regard, Nehru firmly said the PM’s assurance in the House was in itself a law. “Nobody can deny that, nobody can change that. That is the strength of this House,” Mr Elangovan said.
VCK leader Thirumavalavan too demanded that Tamil be made an official language of the country. He also said reservation quotas must be extended to cover the private sector as well “to ensure equal opportunities for all sections of society”.