Annamalai calls Stalin a hypocrite over Hindi imposition claim

Chennai

Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai on Wednesday criticized Chief Minister M K Stalin, calling him a hypocrite for accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of imposing Hindi and favoring Sanskrit over Tamil in fund allocations.

In a social media post, Annamalai challenged Stalin, asking what his government had done to promote Tamil beyond the state. He argued that Modi's commitment to Tamil is evident, citing the installation of the Sengol in Parliament.

Annamalai pointed out that during 2006-2014, when the DMK was in power, Sanskrit received ₹675.36 crore in funding, while Tamil got only ₹75.05 crore. He questioned Stalin’s silence back then and accused him of hypocrisy for criticizing current allocations.

He further alleged that former Home Minister P Chidambaram had submitted over 170 recommendations to promote Hindi nationwide, yet Stalin remains silent on Congress’s role in language policies. Annamalai accused Stalin of distorting Tamil history and culture for political propaganda, pointing to past objections against Vande Mataram and Vande Bharat.

Stalin, in a letter to DMK workers, claimed that from 2014 to 2023, the Centre allocated ₹2,435 crore for Sanskrit universities but only ₹167 crore for the Central Institute of Classical Tamil. He accused the BJP of linguistic bias, saying their actions contradict their claims of respecting Tamil.

Stalin asserted that the disparity in funding proves the BJP’s hostility towards Tamil, while the party defends the three-language policy as beneficial for regional languages.