Tamil Nadu Timeline

LanguageNational and Dravidian movements

Compulsory Hindi order withdrawn

· Chennai

The Governor of Madras, Lord Erskine, withdrew the order making Hindi compulsory in schools, ending the first anti-Hindi agitation.

After the Congress ministry resigned in 1939, the anti-Hindi agitation was called off. The Governor, Lord Erskine, issued an order withdrawing compulsory Hindi instruction in February 1940. Hindi was made optional in schools. The outcome was seen by the movement's supporters as a success and influenced later language politics in Tamil Nadu.

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