Kamal Haasan takes a bold stance on Hindi imposition in South

The actor recently spoke about his support for Karnataka and Andhra.

Kamal Haasan has spoken about the issue of language imposition, referring to allegations that Hindi is being imposed in the southern states. He is already embroiled in a controversy regarding his comments on a language. However, the actor-politician still doesn’t shy away from sharing his thoughts on the Hindi language’s imposition in the South.

Kamal Haasan discusses the imposition of Hindi in the South.

The Thug Life actor had a clear stance on the matter. His latest remarks about Kannada being born out of Tamil had him yet not apologize for the controversy to those who objected to his comments. The pan-India superstar refused to apologize, and thus, his film Thug Life was barred from release in Karnataka. Haasan told PTI, “I am the actor from Ek Duuje Ke Liye…” referring to his 1981 hit Hindi film about a Tamil boy and his romance with his Hindi-speaking neighbour. He said, “Without imposition, we will learn. Don’t impose, because this is ultimately education, and we must take the shortest route to education… and not put hurdles in its way.” He stressed that the imposition of a particular language only hampers the learning process; the 70-year-old said, “I stand with Punjab. I stand with Karnataka. I stand with Andhra. This is not only place which is resenting imposition.”

Kamal Haasan said that people must learn one language.

He said that if you are truly looking for an “international breakthrough,” you must learn one language. He added, “And English seems to be fair enough. You can do Spanish also, or Chinese. But I think the most practical thing where the shortest route to that is that we have 350 years of English education, slowly but steadily. So when you suddenly replace it, it’s all over again. You make unnecessarily many people illiterate, especially in Tamil Nadu. You suddenly force all of them to learn Hindi, and you tell them that they will not get their job beyond the Vindhyas; then you start wondering, what about the promises? What about my language? Am I not one of the 22 (official languages)? These are the questions that are coming.”