![]() Stalin, the Tamil Nadu chief minister, has himself written to Modi to demand that the latter stop his “continuous efforts to promote Hindi in the name of one nation.” Stalin described attempts to “impose” Hindi as “divisive in character” and warned against provoking another “language war.” Tamil Nadu has a long history of resisting the adoption of Hindi as the language of government. English, therefore, is equal to Hindi as a language of government communication.īy trying to further privilege Hindi, Modi and his closest political ally, Home Minister Amit Shah, have been accused of inflaming tensions with the south. The Indian constitution recognizes 22 languages, while giving Hindi and English “official” language status. But Modi, critics point out, has not disguised his ambition to make Hindi the country’s national language. Many in the South prefer to communicate in English as their pan-Indian link language rather than Hindi. States like Tamil Nadu and Kerala have always been fiercely vigilant that their languages be recognized as integral to the Indian union. But the Hindi-speaking northern states dominate national politics, a dominance that has become even more stark since the Modi-led BJP came to power in 2014, gobbling up votes in the region at an unprecedented scale. Like its neighbors, it outperforms the North when it comes to providing healthcare, education and jobs to its residents. These states lag behind the rest of the country, particularly the south, in terms of prosperity and education. ![]() Back in the 1980s, an Indian academic coined the pejorative acronym BIMARU to refer to these states, a pun on the Hindi word “bimar,” meaning ill or sick. Babu himself posted a video on Twitter describing the claims that Bihari workers were being attacked in Tamil Nadu as “false and mischievous.”īihar, linguistically and culturally, is part of India’s so-called “cow belt” - including the Hindi-speaking states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in particular. To counter the misinformation, the Tamil Nadu police took to Twitter to threaten legal action against anyone it found to be deliberately making false posts. The article was based on a single phone call with a laborer and the accompanying video showing clips of unrelated violence.įollowing up on the report, a BJP spokesperson tweeted that Bihari laborers were being attacked and killed for speaking Hindi in Tamil Nadu. ![]() The Hindi-language Dainik Bhaskar newspaper - the largest circulated daily in India and by some estimates the fourth largest in the world - reported that more than 15 Bihari laborers had been murdered in Tamil Nadu. ![]() “It was a war-like situation,” Babu said.Īrrayed against the police in both Tamil Nadu and Bihar were right-wing influencers with followings of up to 60 million people, local BJP politicians and even some media. Sylendra Babu, the extravagantly mustached head of the Tamil Nadu police, told me that he had to form 46 special teams to coordinate with the Bihar police to combat the viral spread of videos and social media commentary about attacks on Bihari laborers. Sylendra Babu is the current Director General of Police and Head of the Police Force, Tamil Nadu. The fake videos of Bihari laborers being attacked in Tamil Nadu were spread by BJP supporters, politicians from both states said, to drive a wedge between parties in both states that were opposed to the BJP. In August 2022, the state’s chief minister walked out on an alliance with the BJP and formed a new government with other partners including the Congress. Meanwhile, Bihar is currently led by an anti-BJP coalition. Despite the progress made last year, the BJP is currently in disarray in Tamil Nadu, with 13 party workers quitting dramatically just last week. It led the party’s state chief to declare his intent to turn the BJP into a third political force in a state that has been dominated by two parties since the 1960s, both of which emerged from an equal rights movement for oppressed castes. For years, whenever he visited the state, he would be greeted with signs that read, “Go back Modi.” But the BJP, which has never had an electoral presence at any level in Tamil Nadu, surprised observers last year by winning several seats in municipal elections in the state. ![]() If Modi remains by far India’s most popular politician, there is little love lost for him in Tamil Nadu. With the BJP, led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, firm favorites to win a third consecutive national election in 2024, most analysts deem the formation of an ad hoc alliance of regional parties and the fast-fading Congress - which has governed India for the vast majority of its 75 years as an independent nation - as the opposition’s only hope. ![]()
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