Actor and politician Kamal Haasan has cited a recent statement against any imposition of Hindi, made in the Rajya Sabha by CPM member John Brittas, and described it as the position of “half of India”.

“Kerala is also reflecting the same, and it is speaking for half of India. Warning: Pongal (Tamil New Year) is coming. Oh! Sorry, ‘Jaagte Raho’ for your understanding,” the actor tweeted in Tamil.

He seemed to be suggesting that the anti-Hindi-imposition movement would receive a fresh fillip with Pongal.

The actor was reacting to a tweet by Brittas, posted in Tamil and Telugu, that referred to the MP’s recent statement in the Upper House opposing the imposition of Hindi.

“Your nefarious design of imposing Hindi will ruin this country. Could Sundar Pichai have been at the helm of Google if he had to take his exams at IIT in Hindi?” Brittas went on to say in the tweet.

The Union education ministry had in 2020 recommended that each IIT and NIT introduce, for a small number of its students, the principal language of the state where it is located as an alternative medium of instruction alongside English. Last October, the parliamentary committee on official languages suggested, in a similar vein, that the IITs located in Hindi-speaking states introduce Hindi as a medium of instruction.

Pichai studied in IIT Kharagpur, located in Bengal, but Brittas’s use of his name appeared illustrative.

“Mother tongue is our birthright. Learning and using other languages is based on personal choice. This has been the right of South India for 75 years,” Kamal Haasan said in a second tweet in the thread.

“The Northeast will also reflect the same. To develop Hindi by imposing it on others is based on ignorance. What is imposed will be opposed.”

Y. Satish Reddy, social media convener of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi) too tweeted a video clip of Brittas making his statement in the Rajya Sabha and tagged the Google chief.

“Imagine if #Hindi were to be the medium at IIT Kharagpur as recommended by #ModiGovt would we have had a @sundarpichai?” Reddy wrote.

Brittas had during Zero Hour on Thursday accused the parliamentary committee on official languages of violating Section 4(iii) of the Official Language Act.

“Section 4(iii) of the Official Language Act stipulates the remit of the committee as to review the progress in the use of Hindi for the official purpose of the Union and make recommendations thereof,” he said.

“It is beyond the ambit of the Act to deliberate on the medium of instruction in educational institutions and in fact the official language committee has gone beyond its brief; thereby recommending that the higher education institutes have to adopt Hindi as a medium of language.”

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked into the House during his brief statement, Brittas had said: “I am glad that the Honourable Prime Minister is listening to me, Sir. There is a pernicious and sinister design and overt and covert attempts, perhaps stronger than ever, to elevate Hindi as the sole national language of the country.”

He added: “Sir, imagine if Sundar Pichai was forced to write his exams in Hindi, would he have reached the top position of Google as we all Indians are proud of ?”

Brittas cited the difficulties that students from the northern states would face if south Indian colleges decided to switch the medium of instruction to their own state languages.

“Sir, there are thousands of students from north India who study in south India, like Bangalore, Chennai, Mangalore, Kerala. Do you expect the students of north India to learn their syllabus in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada? If they force that, most of your students would have to come back,” he had said.