DMK's Kanimozhi slams 'imposition' of Hindi on railway signboard in Tamil Nadu: 'They won't stop...'

Language politics is expected to play a key role in shaping electoral prospects in Tamil Nadu

DMK deputy general secretary and MP Kanimozhi on Thursday targeted the Centre over “imposition” of Hindi in Tamil Nadu, as she shared a picture of a Chennai railway station nameboard that was altered to include the language.

Taking to X, Kanimozhi wrote in Tamil, loosely translated as: “It began in Kallakurichi, and continues to Chennai Poonthottam. They will not stop imposing it. Nor will we cease resisting it.”

The BJP-led central government and the DMK government in Tamil Nadu have for long been at odds over the language issue, with chief minister MK Stalin and his party repeatedly alleging that the Centre is intentionally pushing Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states through administrative changes as well as education policy. Amid this, the state also introduced the State Education Policy, with a two-language formula.

கல்லக்குடியில் தொடங்கியது, சென்னை பூங்கா வரை தொடர்கிறது. அவர்கள் திணிப்பதை நிறுத்தப் போவதுமில்லை. நாம் அதை எதிர்ப்பதில் ஓயப்போவதுமில்லை. https://t.co/Y9hKti0KDL

— Kanimozhi (கனிமொழி) (@KanimozhiDMK) January 29, 2026

Recently, CM Stalin hailed the “language martyrs” of the state who sacrificed their lives during the anti-Hindi agitation in the past and asserted that there was “no place” for the language here forever.

Paying tributes on the occasion of Language Martyrs Day, he said, “a state that loved its language like its life, unitedly struggled against Hindi imposition; protested with the same intensity every time it was imposed.”

“Language Martyrs Day; there is no place for Hindi then, now and forever (in TN),” the Dravidian party chief said in a social media post.

Tamil Nadu deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin also asserted that the state would firmly oppose and not accept the "Hindi imposition" by the central government.

He pointed out that several mother tongues once spoken in states such as Haryana, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh gradually declined after the introduction of Hindi. "Hindi has become a language that swallows many mother tongues," he said, adding that this is why Tamil Nadu has consistently opposed the alleged Hindi imposition.

Language politics is expected to play a key role in shaping electoral prospects in Tamil Nadu, which is set to hold assembly polls later this year. The DMK-led alliance will look to defend its hold on the state against the AIADMK-BJP-led alliance.