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 26th 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 Resoueces
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
