NEW DELHI, Dec 23: In another flare-up of the North versus South debate, DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran has allegedly teased the Hindi speakers from UP and Bihar saying that those from these states who come to Tamil Nadu end up only doing menial jobs like construction work or cleaning of toilets etc prompting the BJP leaders to ask the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to respond to the derisive comment. .
Sharing the clip of Dayanidhi Maran, BJP leaders asked Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav should clarify why INDIA bloc and its partner DMK have so much hatred against Hindi-speaking UP, Bihar. The BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said after DMK MP Senthil Kumar’s objectionable comment in Parliament about North Indian states and after Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy’s comment (when he was not a CM) that Telangana DNA was better than Bihar DNA, once again DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran attempted to trigger north-south debate.
DMK is part of the INDIA bloc — the opposition alliance which also include Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), RJD and Samajwadi Party– the main political parties of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. “Do Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav agree with their coalition partner’s opinion on Hindi-speaking people? They should clarify why DMK and INDIA block have so much hatred against Hindi-speaking people,” Bihar BJP MP Giriraj Singh tweeted.
According to reports, Dayanidhi Maran’s comment on Hindi was a comparison of people who learn English and who only learn Hindi. The DMK leader said those who learn English get good jobs in IT, but those who learn only Hindi — people from UP and Bihar — end up cleaning roads and toilets. “This is what happens when one learns only Hindi,” Dayanidhi said.
The north-south debate got triggered after Congress won Telangana and BJP won Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. Several comments were made on the vote pattern and DMK’s Senthil Kumar made an objectionable comment about north Indian states in this context.
A recent Hindi-non-Hindi language debate took place at the meeting of the INDIA bloc when Nitish Kumar started to speak and DMK leader TR Baalu sought an English translation of the same. “We call our country Hindustan and Hindi is our national language. We should know the language,” Nitish Kumar rebuffed while RJD MP Manoj Jha offered to translate.
(Manas Dasgupta)
