Tamil Nadu: Protesting 'Hindi imposition', 85-year-old farmer dies by self-immolation outside DMK office

Chennai: In order to protest the imposition of Hindi, an 85-year-old farmer from Tamil Nadu’s Salem district set himself outside the DMK office. Thangavel, a former agriculture union organiser for the party, demonstrated in front of their office in Thalaiyur, close to Mettur on Saturday morning.

He reportedly poured petrol on his body and set himself ablaze and died on the spot at around 11 am. Thangavel was distressed with the alleged Centre’s move to bring Hindi as a medium of education.

According to media reports, Thangavel, before self-immolating oneself, in a banner wrote, “Modi government, central government, we don’t want Hindi,” adding that their native speech is Tamil and clowns speak Hindi. He said imposing the Hindi language will affect the lives of students, adding, “Get rid of Hindi, get rid of Hindi, get rid of Hindi.”

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Notably, the ruling party in the state, DMK youth wing secretary and CM MK Stalin’s son Udayanidhi had warned that the party would stage a protest against the BJP in Delhi if Hindi is made mandatory language in the state.

DMK had also staged a huge protest, saying that it would not remain a mute spectator if the sentiments of people are ignored by the BJP-led Central government.

Earlier, a parliamentary panel had recommended that Hindi should be the primary language of teaching in technical as well as non-technical higher education institutions like the IITs in Hindi-speaking states and other parts of the nation. The panel also suggested that Hindi should be one of the official languages of the United Nations. Huge protests erupted after this.

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