Can Tamil Nadu Govt Pass A Bill To Ban Hindi Language In The State?
Tamil Nadu government is geared up to ban Hindi in the state, by bringing a bill, asserting linguistic and regional pride. The proposal bill aims to prohibit Hindi hoardings and Hindi-language films across Tamil Nadu. As per the reports, an emergency meeting with legal experts was held to discuss the proposed legislation.
Sources suggest that the proposed bill sought to prohibit Hindi hoardings, boards, movies, and songs across Tamil Nadu, although officials said that it will comply with the constitution.
Senior DMK leader TKS Elangovan said that they are not against the constitution but oppose the imposition of Hindi.
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In March earlier, this year, MK Stalin government replaced the national rupees symbol with Tamil letter (ru) in the 2025-26 state budget logo. The decision sparked criticism from BJP and the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, however, DMK defended it as an effort to promote the Tamil language instead of rejecting the national symbol.
Now, the question is whether an Indian state can legally pass a bill to ban the Hindi language. The answer is ‘No’. There are constitutional rights of protection and freedom of speaking the language.
Firstly, the Language rights are protected by the Constitution Article 343–351 of the Indian Constitution which deal with the official languages of the Union and the states. Hindi is recognized as the official language of the Union, alongside English. States have the freedom to choose their own official language(s) (Article 345), but they cannot ban another language.
Also, Right to Freedom of Speech (Article 19(1)(a)) gives every citizen right to speak, read, and communicate in any language. A state law banning Hindi would violate this fundamental right.
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Cultural and linguistic rights (Articles 29 and 30) protect the rights of linguistic minorities. Banning a language would infringe upon these protections. Also, theJudiciary may restrict any arbitrary decision, as if a state legislature tried to pass such a bill, the President of India would likely withhold assent, and the Supreme Court would strike it down as unconstitutional.
