TAMIL LANGUAGE STRUGGLE AND ITS REMEMBRANCE... DUTIES AHEAD

REMEMBRANCE OF 1965 TAMIL LANGUAGE STRUGGLE

Rajaji in a letter to Jawaharlal Nehru describing him as the faithful servant of the nation urged that the Constitution should be amended so as to make English indefinitely the language of the central administration and for inter state purposes. But his sane advice was not heeded. The Constitution of India Part XVII includes Articles 343 to 351, of which 343 and 344 form Chapter 1 –Language of the Union : The official language of the the Union shall be Hindi in the Devanagari Script .The English language shall continue to be used for all official purposes of the Union for 15 years from the commencement of the Constitution. When 15 years lapsed and time for review in Parliament arrived . Aringnar Anna was in Rajya Sabha and his views on Hindi is summarized by Dr.A.Ramasamy Former Vice Chancellor of Alagappa University in his book Struggle for Freedom of Languages in India . “ It would not  be a wonder if anyone gets angry about the high status given to one language in a country of many languages. We only oppose the adoption of Hindi as the Official language of India. We reject Hindi and prevent its imposition when it attempts to exercise authority on us. We call Hindi the language of oppression”  Meanwhile when Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Sastri, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Indira Gandhi and all in the Union Cabinet were behind theUnion Home Ministry circular of 5 th December 1964 which stated : From January 26^th of 1965 Hindi will become the official language of the Union. Although provision had been made in the Official Language Act 1963 for the continued  use of English in addition to Hindi, it is expected that Hindi will be used for all official purposes of the Union after January 26 of 1965 “ . This news triggered the Anti Hindi Agitation of 1965.   

     

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Executive under General Secretary Navalar Ira.Nedunchezhian on 8 th January 1965 declared “ Though DMK understands the importance of the Republic Day 26 January 1965  as the Union Government has chosen that day for the imposition of Hindi to thwart the wishes and destroy the welfare of the people of South and as the party has realized that if opposition to Hindi is not shown on that day , Union Government may indulge in a false propaganda that the South had accepted Hindi , it is resolved to observe Republic Day as a Mourning Day as a symbolic portrayal of the feelings and anguish of the people of South against Hindi.

On January 17 : 1965 : Tamilnadu Anti Hindi Conference was held in Trichy Devar Hall. All political parties except Congress and Communists participated.  Rajaji inaugurated the conference. Karumuthu Thiagaraja Chettiar unfurled the.Tamil flag with bow, fish, and tiger representing the ancient Chera, Chozha Pandyan kingdoms of Tamilnadu.. Chairman of Reception Committee Scientist G.D.Naidu welcomed the audience. P.T.Rajan who presided over the conference recalled the assurance given by Pandi Jawaharlal Nehru to non Hindi speaking states and chided over its silent burial.K.A.P.Viswanathan was the Convener A student leader Prakasam who worked for this conference is one of the forgotten heroes.

The student leaders who have found in history books includes Law College Students A.Ravichandran, L.Ganesan, N.V.N.Somu, P..Srinivasan who later defeated K.Kamaraj in 1967 polls, Madurai Thiyagaraja Arts College Students K.Kalimuthu, N.Kamaraj,P.Jeyapragasam, Chennai Thiyagaraja Arts College student N.Navalavan, Pachaiappas College Student Duraimurugan,S.Duraisamy,  American College Student A.Rahmankhan, Presideny College Student M.M.Raman , Thanjavur Raja Sarfoji College Student M.Natarajan [ Sasikala’s husband] , K.Rajamanickam, Saint Josephs College Trichy S.Ragupathy, M.Ponniraivan, A.N.Dhayaneswaran, Annamalai University M.Rajendran shot dead in police firing, T.M.Iraikuruvan, Madurai Medical College student R.Sethu, Madras Medical College student Rex Sargunam, 

Alagappa Arts College student Jeevakalaimani who organized Karaikudi Anti Hindi Conference in 1966 in which Pondicherry Tagore Arts College Student N.Nandhivarman spoke in the presence of Scientist G.D.Naidu .

A.Ramasamy the author of two books on Language Struggle and Former Vice Chancellor of Alagappa University A.Ramasamy, Coimbatore Agricultural College student Thenkatchi Swaminathan, the list goes on. Few are mentioned here and some went to become Ministers and Members of Parliament and some went into oblivion.

Aringnar Anna was arrested and taken in a police lorry.  Black flags fluttered from DMK headquarters to Murasoli office and throughout Tamilnadu in DMK members houses. In non violent agitations DMK cadres like Keezhapavoor Chinnasamy, Aranganathan etc showed to the world that Tamils will sacrifice themselves to save their mother tongue.

Professor C.Ilakuvanar who translated Tholkappiam, Tamil Grammar in English was arrested and removed from service. Kalaignar M.Karunanithi was sent to solitary imprisonment in Palayam Kottai.

Usually though emotional Tamils are peace loving, but in the face of police firing and oppression violent incidents erupted all over Tamilnadu. This Tamil uprising brought down the Congress regime in 1967 and even after 50 years Congress could not capture power in Tamilnadu.

Looking back at the struggle I feel we were self content with putting neon lights in Government buildings like Rippon Buildings etc proclaiming Lon Live Tamil. J.Jayalalitha too put up a Tamil Mother Statue in Madurai Vaigai River. Symbolism only is shown, real development of Tamil is in the wane. When few students of Dhaka University of East Pakisthan who were shot dead in police firing protesting against Urdu and for Bengali, independent Bangladesh could lobby in UNESCO to make it declare that day a World Mother Languages Day. We Tamils though being power in center and states have failed to make Human Resources Development Ministry send a request to UNESCO failing to which and Government be it Singapore, Malaysia, or Australia can take it up with UNESCO to get legitimate place for Tamil struggle. One who wrote to UNESCO and got their reply is praying this.

N.Nandhivarman

Thamizhmaamani Awardee of Pondicherry Government in 2010