‘This is cultural terrorism’: Amit Shah’s Hindi language push draws criticism from top politicians

Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday talked about the importance of Hindi language and how it should be used as an alternative to English and not local languages. This statement struck a chord with many and drew some criticism from top political leaders in India.

Karnataka Opposition leader Siddaramaiah hit out at Amit Shah for pushing for the usage of Hindi, saying that BJP is unleashing “cultural terrorism” on the country and that Hindi is not the national language of India.

Tweeting with the tagline "#IndiaAgainstHindiImposition", Congress leader Siddaramaiah said, “As a Kannadiga, I take strong offence to @HMOIndia @AmitShah's comment on Official language & medium of communication. Hindi is not our National Language and we will never let it be.”

As a Kannadiga, I take strong offence to @HMOIndia @AmitShah's comment on Official language & medium of communication.

Hindi is not our National Language & we will never let it to be.#IndiaAgainstHindiImposition

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 8, 2022

The opposition leader also accused Shah of betraying his home state of Gujarat with such a statement, where the mother tongue is Gujarati. He said that Shah is betraying his home state for his political agenda.

He further added, “Imposing Hindi is a sign of coercive federalism rather than cooperative federalism. The myopic view of BJP regarding our languages needs to be corrected and their opinions are derived from pseudo-nationalists like Savarkar.”

Mamata Banerjee’s party TMC also slammed Amit Shah’s statement, saying that Hindi is not the official language of India. The TMC said, “If Amit Shah and the BJP trying to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states, it will be resisted. The people of this country, where there is so much diversity, will never accept such a thing.”

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan also criticized Amit Shah for his push for the Hindi language in India, and said that the "three-language formula" does not make sense and it is completely "off logic".

READ | ‘Hindi should be alternative to English, not local languages’: Amit Shah

The Tamil Nadu minister said, “Why should I have a three-language formula?...It makes no sense...Union Home Minister Amit Shah`s comment is completely off logic. Hindi is not intrinsic to at least 60 per cent-70 per cent of the country...Not only it is chauvinism but it is economically inverse logic.”

The Congress party further accused Shah and the BJP of trying to distract the population from issues like inflation and price rise through their political agenda. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had said that Hindi is the Raj Bhasha (official language) and not Rashtra Bhasha (national language).

Amit Shah on Thursday had said that Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English and not to local languages. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided that the medium for running the government is the official language, which will increase the importance of Hindi, Shah said.

(With inputs from agencies)