Chennai: Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s suggestion on Friday that people of different states should communicate with each other in Hindi and not English evoked strong reactions from the Opposition, including politicians in Tamil Nadu.
AR Rahman had his say as well, though he did not mention the link.
In a post on social media, the Oscar-winning musician referred to ‘Beloved Tamil’.
Sharing an illustration of ‘Thamizhanangu’ (Goddess Tamil), Rahman included a line written by famed Tamil poet Bharathidasan from his ‘Thamiliyakkam’, a book of poems, which read – ‘Beloved Tamil is the root of our existence.’
— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) April 8, 2022
Shah, while speaking at the 37th meeting of Parliamentary Official Language Committee, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided that the medium of running the government is the Official Language, and that this would increase the importance of Hindi.
“Now the time has come to make the Official Language an important part of the unity of the country. When citizens of states who speak other languages communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India,” Shah said.
In 2019 too, Rahman had commented on the language debate when there were plans to make a three-language policy mandatory for all states.
“AUTONOMOUS | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary,” with web link of the word’s meaning in the dictionary. His tweet triggered a popular hashtag, ‘#autonomousTamilNadu’ by his fans worldwide.
Reacting to Shah’s proposal, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin said it will destroy India’s unity.
