Actor-politician Prakash Raj launched a scathing attack on Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan for his recent comments on the Hindi language.
"I do not understand why some criticize Sanskrit. Why do Tamil Nadu politicians oppose Hindi while allowing their movies to be dubbed in Hindi for financial gain? They want money from Bollywood but refuse to accept Hindi--what kind of logic is that?" Pawan Kalyan asked while addressing the party's 12th foundation day at Pithampuram in Kakinada.
Prakash Raj took to his X account on Saturday to slam Kalyan, accusing him of trying to "impose Hindi" on others. In his post, Prakash wrote, "Don't impose your Hindi language on us. It is not about hating another language; it is about protecting our mother tongue and our cultural identity with self-respect. Someone, please explain this to Pawan Kalyan garu."
"As we don't have the fear of losing, we contested in 2019. Even after losing, we took a step forward. We stood our ground and upheld the party. We not only stood up for ourselves but also upheld the four-decade-old TDP," said Kalyan, addressing a large meeting in the East Godavari district.
He said the party entered the Legislative Assembly with a 100 per cent success rate by winning all the 21 seats it contested in the 2024 polls. He cherished his association with TDP supremo and CM N Chandrababu Naidu and IT Minister Nara Lokesh, as he hit out at some of the news reports which, he said, accused him of shifting his ideology often.
Kalyan said that his ideology is to forge unity in diversity and claimed that the ideology Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) is in his blood. "True secularism should be applied in true spirit, not for vote bank politics… I am even ready to die for Bharat," Kalyan said.
Later, the actor-politician waded into the language controversy raging between Tamil Nadu and the Centre, emphasising that more languages are needed to keep the integrity of the country.
He castigated people for opposing Hindi and arguing against dubbing Tamil films into the language. Kalyan also called for debates on delimitation amid worries among some politicians who argue that some states will lose their MP seats in the Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Janasena Party chief Pawan Kalyan on Saturday clarified his stance on the “Hindi imposition” row amid criticism over “changing” his earlier stand against making the language compulsory.
Kalyan backed the NDA ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the ongoing controversy around the National Education Policy (NEP) in Tamil Nadu, which accused the Centre of attempting to “impose” Hindi on the southern state.
*With Agency Inputs
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