It was widely reported in the news last week that Tamil Nadu is planning to introduce a bill banning the Hindi language. According to these reports, the proposed bill aims to do this by prohibiting Hindi hoardings, songs, and films. No immediate comments were issued by the Tamil Nadu government either confirming or denying the news. Amid concerns raised by experts that such a bill would be unconstitutional, senior DMK leader Mr TKS Elangovan stated that the party is against the imposition of Hindi and would not do anything unconstitutional — a remark many interpreted as a defence of the proposed bill. The Tamil Nadu BJP, which does not have a strong presence in the state’s political arena, strongly condemned the bill, calling it “stupid" and “absurd".

The government later dismissed reports about an anti-Hindi bill. The secretary of the legislative assembly stated that no proposal for such a bill had been received. Many accounts, however, claimed that the denial came only after backlash against the proposal reached the national stage. Some media outlets suggested that, following widespread criticism, an urgent meeting with legal experts was convened to discuss the proposed legislation, and it was during this meeting that the decision to stall the bill was made. Others speculated that the upcoming Bihar elections may have played a role in shelving the bill, as an anti-Hindi proposal by a member of the INDIA bloc could be used by the NDA as a tool to attack the Mahagathbandhan.

To ban a language is a foolish move — one that is not only impractical but also, by all chances, would not stand in court. The impracticality and absurdity are such that, had the reports been about any other political party planning such a bill, they would have been instantly dismissed as a silly prank or a false rumour, a piece of fake news, without anyone bothering to examine the details. But coming from the DMK, nobody doubted the reports. Given DMK’s fervour when it comes to linguistic issues, the idea of such a bill sounded prima facie credible.

The DMK is known for its uncompromising and hardline stand on language. It was the DMK that replaced the Indian currency symbol with the Tamil script in its budget documents a few months ago. The party has also been at loggerheads with the central government over the National Education Policy and has consistently maintained that it will not implement the three-language policy prescribed by the NEP.

The DMK’s real contention is not with Hindi itself. The party believes that the imposition of Hindi is a means to introduce and promote Sanskrit. Back in February, Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote to his party cadres: “We will oppose Hindi imposition. Hindi is the mask, Sanskrit is the hidden face." This sentiment is not a recent one. A few years ago, it was Dayanidhi Maran who said in the Lok Sabha........

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