Over the weekend, Tamil twitter saw a rise in the trend of a hashtag titled #இந்தி_தெரியாது_போடா [Translates into Don't know Hindi, Get Lost] where people from all walks of life registered their disdain for the the imposition of the language in question.

The outrage seems to stem from many incidents in recent times like the Center announcing Hindi as a third language in NEP, Tamil doctors complaining they were told to leave an AYUSH conference if they did not know Hindi and Tamil MP Kanimozhi being asked if she was Indian because she had refused to speak in Hindi at an airport.

While tweets on Hindi Imposition have kept coming as the events unfolded over time, it reached a boiling point when celebrities like Yuvan Shankar Raja, Udhayanidhi Stalin, Aishwarya Rajesh, Shanthnu Bhagiyaraj among others were spotted sporting T-shirts that read "I am a Tamil speaking Indian" and "Don't know Hindi Get Lost".

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 https://t.co/DhwrfJK1ca

— Raja yuvan (@thisisysr) September 5, 2020

Back to தொழில் .... something interesting on the work front 😉 #KeepCalm #SpreadLove @KikiVijay #WithLoveShanthnuKiki pic.twitter.com/vg9Vx6Hy4S

— Shanthnu 🌟 ஷாந்தனு Buddy (@imKBRshanthnu) September 5, 2020

#இந்தி_தெரியாது_போடா 😎😍
Thanks to@DrSenthil_MDRD pic.twitter.com/nOtNsLmUXc

— Pandian pandi (@PandianA20) September 6, 2020

Video clips of Kamal Haasan saying the exact same slogan as a dialogue from one of his 80s movies and several other film references turned memes aided in helping the trend go viral as well.

#TamilSpeakingIndian#ஹிந்தி_தெரியாது_போடா pic.twitter.com/rzoljNKShz

— வளன் (@ValaNilavan) September 5, 2020

Kanimozhi later declared that the T-shirts were a part of her and her party DMK's campaign to stop Hindi imposition, especially after her experience at the airport.

A spark is enough to ignite a sentiment.When we printed Tshirts, in the era of blatant Hindi imposition,we didn't know that the youngsters would respond passionately like our forefathers in fighting discriminatory practices. Thank you.#ஹிந்தி_தெரியாது_போடா #StopHindiImposition pic.twitter.com/44HHjXuS3d

— Kanimozhi (கனிமொழி) (@KanimozhiDMK) September 6, 2020