Is it not ridiculous that Ms Kanimozhi, otherwise a very sensible and well-educated politician is fighting for an alien language like English, which is not understood even by two per cent people of Tamilnadu? English was not known even by her father, the late Karunanidhi, who was adept in exploiting the sentiments of the people against Hindi. But love for English and allergy with Hindi defies all logic. She insists that all meetings of the central government officials should be conducted in English. Recently she walked out of a meeting of a ministry showing her tantrums against an officer because he was speaking in Hindi, which was understood by everyone including her. It is a well-known fact that Ms Kanimozhi possesses reasonably good knowledge of Hindi. She is credited to have translated the Hindi speeches of some of the politicians in Tamil. Then why does she make brouhaha against Hindi from time to time?
It appears that her party DMK has gone completely bereft of any issues concerning the people, the state, or the country. The other day she created a spectacle at the airport over a CRPF personnel, who was speaking to her in Hindi. She should know that CRPF personnel are frequently transferred from one part of the country to other parts and they cannot be polyglot or multi-lingual. Today they are in Chennai, tomorrow they can be shifted to Bhubneshwar, Guwahati, Jammu, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, or any other place. Nobody can expect them to be proficient in many languages, so normally they know or learn Hindi, which is understood to the entire length and breadth of the country. She should have felt pleasure in conversing to a CRPF personnel in Hindi to strike a better affinity with him or her but instead, she created a tamasha.
Nobody can believe that a person like her, who has lived in a place like Delhi for years as a Member of Parliament does not understand even conversational Hindi. So, her insistence on speaking in English does not cover her with any glory. In fact, such persons, who pretend to be not knowing Hindi are either dimwitted or want to get publicity through their notoriety. Ms Kanimozhi certainly does not belong to the first category. Therefore, one can only have pity for her stunt to get cheap publicity.
It is unfortunate that DMK leaders are living in their make-believe world of the fifties or sixties. Tamil boys and girls are raring to excel in every walk of life. They know it very well that they cannot afford to be a frog-in-the-well as they have to move out of Tamilnadu for trade, employment or other intercourse and in that case, Hindi will become indispensable. Tamilians cannot now be misled or exploited in the name of the imaginary imposition of Hindi. It may sound strange, but it is a fact that Hindi has become a symbol of Indianness throughout the world.
Tamilians or other non-speaking Indians in foreign countries also feel happy and very satisfied with speaking in Hindi. Millions of workers in gulf countries and many other countries assert their identity through Hindi. It is not that Ms Kanimozhi and her party DMK is unaware of the changed realities and yet if they are fantasizing to get support in Tamilnadu to come to power in the name of anti-Hindi, then they are to free to live in their own paradise. Trying to ride on the horse of a non-issue usually leads to a steep fall.