Amid row over imposition of the language in the state, the Tamil Nadu government is set to introduce a bill that would ban the use of Hindi language in hoardings, boards, films and songs throughout the state.
The move, ahead of the 2026 Assembly election, is a likely response to what the DMK has been describing as the imposition of Hindi over regional languages.
“We won’t do anything against the Constitution. We will abide by it. We are against the imposition of Hindi," senior party leader TKS Elangovan told News18.
Earlier this year, the Tamil Nadu government had replaced the official Indian rupee symbol '₹' with the Tamil letter 'ரூ' as the logo for its state budget.
Stalin has been saying that DMK would not oppose Hindi if it was not "imposed" on Tamil Nadu. He had said that forcing the language on Tamils was tantamount to playing with their self-respect.
The move will be a major development amid the ongoing language row between Tamil Nadu govt and Centre over the implementation of the three-language formula in schools.
The row began in early 2025 as Tamil Nadu opposed the Centre's National Education Policy (NEP). It accusing the BJP-led central government of pushing Hindi onto the state. It also alleged that the Centre withheld Rs 2,150 crore meant for Tamil Nadu after the MK Stalin-led government refused to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, in the state.
Three-language policy is supposed to be based on the choices of states, regions and of the student provided two of the three languages are native to India. It does not mandate Hindi as part of the three-language formula. However, according to the Tamil Nadu government, it is a backdoor attempt to impose Hindi.
Discussions on language policy in education have been ongoing since Independence. The Radhakrishnan Commission in 1948-49 first proposed a three-language formula to promote inter-provincial understanding. This was later adopted in the National Education Policy of 1968 and retained in subsequent policies, including NEP 2020.
Both the ruling DMK and the opposition AIADMK have expressed strong reservations against this aspect of the NEP. They have emphasised the importance of preserving Tamil linguistic heritage and opposed any form of Hindi imposition.
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