New Delhi: Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin spoke on the issue of language barrier, which often also causes a north-south divide. Ashwin shared his views on the issue and admitted that not knowing the language is a challenge for people from the south. During the launch of his book – “I Have the Streets: A Kutty Cricket Story”, he said, “People from Tamil Nadu should be made aware of the difficulties they face. I didn’t know much Hindi in my childhood.”
While he agreed that people face problems due to not knowing the language, he urged the people of Tamil Nadu to change their ‘mindset’ on the issue. The veteran spinner asked people to “adopt the mindset that ‘if you don’t know Hindi, it will be difficult to learn it’, and not ‘proud not to know Hindi'”.
Sharing his experience on the issue, Ashwin said that not knowing Hindi made him feel “not included” in the team during his Under-17 days.
“When I was in the Under-17 training camp, I didn’t know Hindi, I only knew English and they looked at me like Einstein,” Ashwin said. It took me 15 years to understand that Einstein will never be included among them.”
“I have written this book so that those who come next do not have to suffer for so many years,” he said.
The Hindi language issue has remained a focal point in Tamil Nadu politics as the state government led by DMK’s MK Stalin has always opposed the idea of recognising the language at the expense of Tamil.
Both the state’s two major parties, the DMK and the opposition AIADMK, advocate the use of Tamil and English in education and employment. This linguistic stance is deeply rooted in the ideology of the Dravidian movement, with both major Dravidian parties following this principle.
The DMK has consistently opposed the three-language policy outlined in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, reaffirming Tamil Nadu’s commitment to the two-language formula of English and Tamil.
‘अगर आपको हिंदी नहीं आती…’: अश्विन ने तमिलनाडु के लोगों से अपनी ‘मानसिकता’ बदलने का आग्रह किया