1965 Anti-Hindi Agitations in Tamil Nadu by Rohan Bachmann
A language can be a divisive feature of a nation's identity. For example, Hindi is a major language of India and a hallmark of the nation's identity. However, the inhabitants of the Southern state of Tamil Nadu speak Tamil. There have been many incidents of violence in this state of India as a result of the Hindi language's rising authority. The first incident began in 1937 with the Indian National Congress making Hindi the offical language of Madras. After winning the Madras election the Indian National Congress created legislation that mandated the teaching of Hindi in secondary educational institutions. This prompted pushback from the Tamil people as they felt that Hindi didn’t represent them as a language. They felt that, similar to Bangladesh in 1971, the northern Indians were trying to dominate and imperialize control over South India. Together the Self-Respect Movement and the Justice Party capitalized on the pushback against Hindi. We also saw women’s organization...