Hindi Shouldn't Be Imposed, None Of Southern States Will Accept It: Superstar Rajinikanth

Superstar Rajinikanth on Wednesday said that Hindi language shouldn't be imposed. His comments came a day after another actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan voiced his concern on the language row. “If there is a common language it's good for the unity and progress of the country. Unfortunately it can't be implemented in our country. However, forcing a language is not acceptable. Southern state will not accept Hindi imposition. Even some northern states will not accept Hindi Imposition," Rajinikanth said. On Saturday, on occasion of Hindi Diwas, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that, ‘Hindi language has been a unifying force in India and emphasised that the country needs a language which can represent India in the world.’

Noted National Award-winning actor and chief of Makkal Needhi Maiam Kamal Haasan had also slammed the ruling BJP government at the Centre for its mega Hindi push. Slamming this ‘Hindi imposition’, Haasan took to Twitter to post a powerful speech. In his speech titled ‘One Nation, Many Languages,’ Haasan said that, “The Unity in diversity is a promise that we made when we made India into a Republic. Now, no Shah, Sultan or Samrat must relent on that promise. We respect all languages, but our mother language will always be Tamil.”

The Congress had on Saturday said the three-language formula should not be tinkered with and controversies must not be stirred up on "emotive" issues settled by Constitution-makers. Meanwhile, CPI leader and Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticising Shah's statement.

Stepping into the shoes of other opposition leaders, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a dig at Centre's mega plan to push Hindi across the country, stating that India's many languages are not her weakness. Taking to Twitter, Gandhi gave a mention about 23 Indian languages, flaunting the linguistic diversity in the country. The languages he wrote about include Oriya, Marathi, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, English, Gujarati, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, Konkani, Malayalam, Telegu, Assamese, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Nepali, Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Santhali and Manipuri. "India's many languages are not her weakness," the Congress leader tweeted along with the list of some spoken languages across the country.