Thiruvananthapuram: Governor Arif Khan has also taken up the cause of Hindi along with Home Minister Amit Shah and triggered a controversy. After Shah said on the occasion of Hindi Diwas that Hindi can unite the country, Mr Khan tweeted, “A language inspires and unites people. Let us strengthen our unity through Hindi, our national language. Along with our mother tongue, let us use Hindi in our work. My best wishes on #hindidiwas #hindidiwas2019.”
However, many people who responded to the tweet, asked the governor to keep in mind the sanctity of his post.
Several Malayalis tweeted with hashtags like #stophindiimposition and #stophindiimperialism.
Some sample tweets: “Hindi never unites India. Kindly celebrate our unity in diversity sir.’’ “Sorry sir, Hindi isn’t our national language and please don’t post BJP's campaign on the official twitter of Kerala governor.’’ “The-re is no national language for India which is a union of states.’’ “India has two official languages and many scheduled languages.’’
“First of all, Hindi is not the national language of India. It is the official language of India along with English.’’ “India is a unity of diversity. We have scheduled 22 languages of India and make all language as national language.’’
Mr Shah had said that Hindi can unite the country and that it is necessary to have one language which could represent India in the world.
Opposition Leader in Tamil Nadu Assembly M.K. Stalin of the DMK reminded Shah that this is India and not Hindia.
A controversy had erupted in June after a draft version of the National Education Policy 2019 required schoolchildren in southern states to compulsorily learn Hindi. The DMK and other parties in Tamil Nadu had protested then.
