Chennai: A video clip of an alleged derogatory remark made months ago by DMK Lok Sabha MP Dayanidhi Maran on workers hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar was widely circulated on social media on Sunday which led to a war of words between the Saffron party and Tamil Nadu's ruling Dravidian party.
Study of both Tamil and English had been championed by his party all along and the people of Tamil Nadu followed it, Maran had said addressing an event in March this year.
Citing the example of Sundar Pichai, a native of Tamil Nadu, Maran said he now heads Google and had he learnt Hindi, he would have been employed in the construction sector as a worker.
"Since children from Tamil Nadu get educated and learn English well, they find employment in the Information Technology sector and earn good salaries," Maran said.
In the video clip, Maran purportedly said that people in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who had learnt 'only Hindi,' construct houses, clean roads and toilets in Tamil Nadu, after learning Tamil.
"This is the scenario if Hindi is learnt."
The video clip showing Maran's alleged remark resurfaced on social media and the BJP said that the DMK MP's comment is very objectionable and has derogatory references to Hindi-speaking people. The reason for the matter cropping up now is not clear and could not be ascertained immediately.
In a post on X, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said that this has become a habit of the DMK 'for sure'. "Many leaders one after the other make such comments and earlier they attacked Sanatan Dharma too. But the reason why Congress party and other parties of the I.N.D.I.A alliance are not saying anything is because, perhaps, they are all in it together," Poonawalla said.
https://twitter.com/Shehzad_Ind/status/1738511484882403333?
Tamil Nadu BJP Vice-president Naryananan Thirupathy said though it was an old remark, it shows the 'true colours' of DMK leaders who use abusive, and derogatory language against north Indians.
"It is not a matter of surprise at all. It is happening now, in the present. It has also happened in the past. The DMK will continue it in the future as well," he said.
DMK spokesperson J Constandine Ravindran condemned BJP functionaries for deliberately spreading 'falsehood.' He told PTI: "DMK is fully committed to an egalitarian society. No particular state like Tamil Nadu is superior. No other state like Uttar Pradesh or Bihar is inferior. The mala fide intent of the BJP people is evident as they are claiming something that Dayanidhi Maran never said or meant."
"The substance of Dayanidhi Maran's speech is all about opportunities available to a person, when she or he, in addition to the mother tongue, also learnt the English language well," he said.
"Career opportunities that open up to a person with an English language background are more, not only in India but also elsewhere in the world and this is the crux of Maran's remarks made months ago," Ravindran added.
—PTI