Pushback from south on Hindi, delimitation grows

BENGALURU/CHENNAI: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday added to the growing clamour around the impending delimitation of Lok Sabha seats while his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin upped the ante over the emotive issue of Hindi language, fuelling the controversy on two contentious issues that have the potential to widen the chasm between India's northern and southern regions.

- Arun Dev and KA Shaji

In a series of posts in Kannada, Siddaramaiah hit back at Union home minister Amit Shah, who had dismissed the row a day ago and said no southern province will suffer a reduction in their parliamentary representation. "The Union home minister Amit Shah's statement that he will not allow injustice to be done to the southern states during the delimitation of constituencies is not credible. It is tainted with malicious intent to create confusion in the southern states," he said on X.

His strong comments came just hours after Tamil Nadu chief minister Stalin fired a salvo at the Centre, saying the southern state will not allow the "imposition" of the Hindi language and vowed to protect Tamil and its culture. "We will oppose Hindi imposition. Hindi is the mask, Sanskrit is the hidden face," he said in a series of posts that appeared to refer to a 2017 article on the connection between Hindi and many northern Indian dialects published in Mint newspaper.

Stalin said many north Indian languages spoken in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh such as Mythili, Brajbhasha, Bundelkhandi and Awadhi were "destroyed by the hegemonic Hindi".

"Ever wondered how many Indian languages Hindi has swallowed? Bhojpuri, Maithili, Awadhi, Braj, Bundeli, Garhwali, Kumaoni, Magahi, Marwari, Malvi, Chhattisgarhi, Santhali, Angika, Ho, Kharia, Khortha, Kurmali, Kurukh, Mundari and many more are now gasping for survival," he said.

"The push for a monolithic Hindi identity is what kills ancient mother tongues. UP and Bihar were never just "Hindi heartlands." Their real languages are now relics of the past," he added.