Anti-Hindi agitations helped Tamil Nadu politicians build their careers. Now the state is rediscovering a fascination for the language
Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray answers criticism against his party’s often violent agitations in Mumbai by citing the long history of anti-Hindi agitations in Tamil Nadu. He points to the state’s official policy that has led to insignificant use of Hindi in Tamil Nadu. Thackeray’s sense of history is impeccable because Tamil Nadu established the supremacy of Tamil through blood, in much greater intensity than the Sainiks do on the streets of Mumbai.
(This story appears in the 05 March, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)