Chennai, Sep 15: Tamil Nadu Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has taken a dig at the ongoing debate over the prominence of Hindi in India. He responded directly to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent comment that Hindi acts as a unifying language and empowers regional languages. Stalin expressed strong opposition to Shah’s views, saying that Hindi was mainly spoken in only a few states of the country.
I strongly condemn the statement of Union Home Minister Amit Shah claiming that Hindi is the uniting force of India and it is empowering other regional languages.
Hindi is spoken only in four or five states in the Country and hence the statement of Amit Shah is totally absurd.…
— Udhay (@Udhaystalin) September 14, 2023
In a post shared on the social media platform ‘X’, Udhayanidhi Stalin made his stance clear: “I strongly condemn Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that Hindi is the unifying force in India and is superior to other languages. Contributes to empowerment.” Stalin highlighted an important fact by pointing out that Hindi has a major influence in only four or five states of India. He described Shah’s statement as completely untenable in the light of this linguistic reality.
It is worth noting that Udhayanidhi Stalin’s criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) extends beyond this issue, as this is his second public statement in opposition to the party following his comments regarding Sanatan Dharma. Udhayanidhi’s vocal opposition to Stalin underlines the ongoing discussions in India regarding language, identity, and regionalism.