DMK lacks courage to translate texts in Tamil: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday (March 21) attacked Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha for raking up the language row, saying they were doing so to gain political mileage and hide their corruption.

"I want to tell the Tamil Nadu government, we have been saying this for two years... you do not have the courage to provide medical and engineering education in Tamil because your economic interests will be affected," he alleged.

"But when our NDA government comes to power (in the southern state), we will provide medical and engineering education in Tamil," he said.

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Expressing his party's commitment to promoting Indian languages, Shah said that after December, he will do all correspondence with chief ministers, MPs, and common people in their respective languages. "Those who take shelter behind the language issue to hide their corruption, this is a strong reply to them," he said.

‘Hindi not competing with other languages’

The Union home minister also said there have been enough divisions in the nation in the name of language and it should not happen anymore as Hindi is not in competition with other languages but a friend of those.

"Some parties are raking up the language issue for their own politics. They are doing it just to hide their corruption," he said while replying to the debate in Rajya Sabha on the working of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

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The DMK-led Tamil Nadu government and the Centre have been at loggerheads over the implementation of the new National Education Policy (NEP) and the three-language formula proposed under it.

"There have been enough divisions in the nation in the name of language, and it should not happen anymore," he said, amid the escalating row over the three-language formula implementation outlined in the NEP.

‘Every Indian language a treasure’

The home minister said every Indian language is a treasure for the country. "Hindi is not in competition with any Indian language, it is only a friend of other languages," the senior BJP leader said.

Dismissing the allegation of Hindi imposition, Shah said every Indian language is a treasure for the country. He informed the House that a new department of Indian languages has been established under the 'Raajbhasha Vibhaag' (Department of Official Language) of the Home Ministry.

"I want to say this so that those who want to divide the country in the name of language do not get an agenda... The Modi government has established a department of Indian languages which will work on spreading all Indian languages. Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Assamese... every language has been included, and there will be apps for translation too," he said.

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The home minister said some people have accused the Union government of being against Southern languages. "How is that possible? I come from Gujarat, Nirmala (Sitharaman) ji is from Tamil Nadu," he said.

Shah said the Modi government has worked for the propagation of regional languages and made provisions for imparting medical and engineering education in Indian languages.

Without naming any party or individual, he said, "Those who are spreading poison in the name of language prefer a foreign language and not an Indian language. Tamil youths can work in Gujarat, Kashmir, Delhi...You have been elected to Parliament, what kind of a system do you want?"

(With agency inputs)