WATCH: ‘Hindi speakers of UP, Bihar clean toilets for us,’ says DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran
DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran alleged that Hindi speakers, who migrate from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to Tamil Nadu, are mainly engaged in cleaning roads and toilets in the southern state.
New Delhi: DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran on Saturday sparked a row with his mocking remarks against the Hindi people in the heartland, saying that the Hindi speakers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar usually do menial jobs like construction work and cleaning toilets in Tamilnadu.
“Hindi-speaking people who migrate to Tamil Nadu usually do construction work and clean roads and toilets for us,” the DMK leader said while addressing a public meeting in the state, adding more fuel to the North-South outrage debate that arose afterwards. the BJP emerged victorious in the recently held assembly elections in the three core Hindi states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
Meanwhile, the BJP took heed of Maran’s insulting remarks against Hindi speakers and asked DMK’s INDIA block partner Nitish Kumar what his reaction was to the DMK leader’s tirade.
“DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran says Hindi-speaking people from UP/Bihar are coming to Tamil Nadu to clean roads and toilets. Do Bihar Chief Ministers Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav agree with their coalition partner’s views on Hindi-speaking people?’, Union Minister Giriraj Singh asked while sharing a clip of Maran on his X account (former Twitter).
“He should clarify why the DMK and INDI alliance has so much hatred against Hindi-speaking Bihari brothers and sisters?”, Giriraj further asked.
#DMK MP #DayanidhiMaran says that individuals out #Bihar And #UPWARDSwho only learn Hindi, migrate to TN, engage in construction work and perform tasks like cleaning roads and 🚽 TOILETS🚽
This is depicted as a result of learning #Hindi. #30000கோடி_எங்கடா pic.twitter.com/9a2AzaIqeN
– Aryabhata | 🕉️ (@Aryabhata99) December 23, 2023
According to reports, Dayanidhi Maran’s comments came against Hindi speakers while comparing people who learned only Hindi and not English. In his speech, Maran claimed that English speakers get high-paying IT jobs, while those who learn only Hindi – such as people from UP and Bihar – migrate to Tamil Nadu and end up as construction workers or cleaners of roads and toilets.
He claimed that this was because they learned only Hindi and not English.
The North-South debate
A debate has been raging between North and South ever since Congress’s victory in Telangana and BJP’s capture of Hindi heartland states in the recently held State Assembly polls, with some leaders making mocking remarks against Hindi speakers and called the North Indian states ‘Gaumutra’. (cow urine) states and claims that after the recently held elections, a “clear line has been drawn” between North and South India.
Earlier this month, after the election results were announced, DMK leader DNV Senthilkumar S had sparked a controversy by calling the Hindi heartland ‘Gaumutra (cow urine) states’. The DMK MP later apologized after the ruling BJP accused him of “dividing the country” into north and south.
Recently, the rift crept even within the INDIA bloc when Bihar Prime Minister Nitish Kumar asked DMK leader TR Baalu to provide an English translation of his speech at an opposition alliance meeting.
“We call our country Hindustan and Hindi is our national language. We should know the language,” said Nitish Kumar, while RJD MP Manoj Jha offered to translate Baalu’s speech.