Will Telangana see anti-Hindi stir?

Hyderabad: Telangana could be the next state after Tamil Nadu to raise the banner of revolt against Hindi. Several organisations have warned of a strong protest if the Centre doesn’t drop its proposal to push Hindi as a common language. “Any attempt to impose Hindi will stoke embers of Balkanisation of India,” said Capt Lingala Panduranga Reddy, President, Voice of Telangana, and Dr Chiranjeevi Kolluri, President, Hyderabad Deccan Democratic and Secular Alliance.

As the imposition of Urdu in Pakistan led to their division, Hindi imposition could also result in the bifurcation of the North and South India. The RSS ideology of Hindu-Hindi-Hindustani will spell disaster for the country, they remarked.

Speaking to presspersons here on Tuesday, Capt Reddy said even BJP’s Karnataka Chief Minister, BS Yediyurappa, was not in favour of Hindi and said Kannada would be the principal language of his state. Hindi and English polled equal votes in the Constituent Assembly. Hindi became the national language when Rajendra Prasad, Chairman, Constituent Assembly, exercised his vote in favour of Hindi, his mother tongue. If Ambedkar had been in his place, then things would have been different. “In India, a language not only unites but also divides,” Dr Kolluri said.

They expressed concern at the “discreet silence” of Telugu Chief Ministers, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and K Chandrasekhar Rao and wondered whether they were afraid of BJP or they want Hindi to replace Telugu.

J Darshan of Dalit Bahujan Students Association and D Naresh of Dalit Minorities Students Association warned that students of different universities in the state would come together if the Centre imposed Hindi. The imposition of Hindi went against the spirit of unity in diversity, they said.