DMK won't hold protest on Sept 20, will continue to oppose Hindi imposition: Stalin

Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) chief MK Stalin on Wednesday announced that the party has postponed its protest scheduled for September 20 against Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement on the Hindi language after the latter issued a clarification on it.

"Our statewide protest against the imposition of Hindi has been postponed after Union Minister Amit Shah has given his clarification on the matter. DMK will, however, continue to oppose Hindi imposition," Stalin told reporters here.

Amid controversy over his call to culturally unify India with Hindi as its national language, Shah earlier today issued a clarification stating he had only requested people to learn it as their second language and did not mean imposing it over any regional language.

"I never asked for imposing Hindi over other regional languages and had only requested for learning Hindi as the second language after one's mother tongue. I myself come from a non-Hindi state of Gujarat. If some people want to do politics, it is their choice," Shah told reporters.

On Tuesday, after a meeting with party leaders in Chennai, Stalin had told the media that his party will hold protests in all districts of Tamil Nadu from September 20 against the imposition of Hindi language.

Earlier, on Saturday, Shah's call to culturally unify India with Hindi as it's national language triggered a row with several Opposition leaders training their guns at him asking him to reconsider his appeal as it "poses a danger to national unity".

Speaking as the chief guest at a function to grace Hindi Divas, Shah said that while unity in diversity is India's defining trait, a common language is needed as a culturally unifying factor.

"While diversity in languages is the strength of our nation, a national language is needed so that foreign languages and cultures do not overpower our own," he had said proclaiming that next year, the Hindi Divas event would be a public programme, as Hindi belongs to the people.