New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin called the central government’s introduction of three bills to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act “recolonisation in the name of decolonisation”, a move that reeks of “linguistic imperialism”.
On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced three bills — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 to replace the IPC, 1860; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 to replace the CrPC, 1973, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 to replace the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
In a long post on social media platform ‘X’, Stalin said: “The audacious attempt by the Union BJP Government to tamper with the essence of India’s diversity through a sweeping overhaul — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill — reeks of linguistic imperialism”.
Calling the bills an affront to the very foundation of India’s unity, the Tamil Nadu CM said the BJP and Modi had “no moral right to even utter the word Tamil hereafter”.
“The fire of resistance against #HindiColonialism is ablaze once more. The BJP’s audacious bid to supplant our identity with Hindi will be opposed resolutely. #StopHindiImposition,” Stalin’s post said.
#Recolonisation in the name of #Decolonisation!
The audacious attempt by the Union BJP Government to tamper with the essence of India's diversity through a sweeping overhaul – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill – reeks of… https://t.co/UTSs9AtUGW
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) August 11, 2023
Through the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the government announced it would do away with the provision of sedition (124A of the Indian Penal Code). In its place, it introduces Section 150, which recommends imprisonment for life, or imprisonment up to seven years for those who “excites or attempts to excite, secession or armed rebellion or subversive activities, or encourages feelings of separatist activities or endangers sovereignty or unity and integrity of India, or indulges in or commits any such act”.
Also Read: Hindi hegemony will only end when other Indian languages like Tamil are reinvented
Heated debate on language imposition
The monsoon session of Parliament also saw some heated debates on language imposition and Tamil culture.
Participating in a debate on the Opposition’s motion of no-confidence, Kanimozhi, DMK’s MP from Thoothukudi, told the ruling BJP government that being in power came with a set of responsibilities.
“You brought Sengol to the new Parliament with a lot of pomp and show. You said it was the Chola tradition. You don’t know Tamil Nadu’s history properly. Have you heard about the Pandyan Sengol? The Pandyan Sengol burned, shattered when the king failed the common people. Do you know the story of Kannagi? Please, stop imposing Hindi on us and please read the Silapadhikaram. It has a lot of lessons to teach you all,” she said, referring to the Sangam-era Tamil epic.
Responding to this Thursday, Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman spoke at length in Tamil while trying to defend her party.
“In Tamil Nadu, for several years, in the name of opposing Hindi imposition, there was an imposition that people should not learn Hindi or Sanskrit. There was an ideological imposition,” she said in the House. “No matter how much power you have to propagate Tamil, you cannot deny people the right to learn Hindi and Sanskrit. I’m telling you from my personal experience.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said, was channeling the spirit of Silapathikaram. Quoting Mylai Ponnuswamy Sivagnanam, an author, freedom fighter and politician known popularly as Ma.Po.Si. whose extensive research on Silapathikaram earned him the title ‘Silambu Chelvar’, Sitharaman said: “Ma.Po.Si. wrote in 1951 that we are Tamils, not Dravidians; our motherland is Tamilakam, not Dravidam. He talks of India’s oneness, but a separatist language influences the kind of language that Kanimozhi speaks”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: Tamil Nadu isn’t so ‘South’ now. Stalin wants to paint BJP ‘northern’ with anti-Hindi bogey