DMK suspends anti-Hindi protests on Governor’s assurance

Chennai, Sep 18 (IANS) Tamil Nadu's principal opposition DMK has decided to temporarily suspend its agitation against Union Home Minister Amit Shah's views on Hindi as the common language, DMK President M.K. Stalin said.

Stalin told reporters here after meeting Governor Banwarilal Purohit that the September 20 protest has been temporarily suspended.

The DMK leader said Purohit spoke about the proposed protest at the meeting.

"We explained to him the reasons for the protest," Stalin said.

According to Stalin, the Governor told the DMK delegation that Shah's views were wrongly understood and had assured that Hindi will not be imposed in Tamil Nadu.

The DMK leader said Purohit had conveyed this to the DMK delegation after being told by the central government.

Later Shah also issued a statement that his views were wrongly understood and that he had never said Hindi will be the sole Indian language.

Stalin said the DMK's protest announcement has led to a situation where anti-Hindi protests could be held nationwide and hence the Governor could have given this assurance.

Political parties in Tamil Nadu have opposed Shah's comments in connection with celebration of Hindi Diwas on Saturday.

"India is a country of different languages, and every language has its own importance. But it's important to have a language of the whole country, which should become the identity of India in the world. Today, if one language can do the work of unifying the country, then it's Hindi, the most spoken language," Shah said in a series of tweets on the occasion of Hindi Diwas.