In the southern Indian town of Tiruchi last week, a 20-year-old hotel waiter scribbled hasty notes to family and friends, then committed suicide by gulping a bottle of insecticide. He was the third suicide in the area in a week.
Earlier two young men, like him mem bers of the radical Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Dravidian Advancement Party), killed themselves in Vietnamese fashion by soaking their bodies with gasoline and igniting themselves with a match. All three protested "the imposition of Hindi." On schedule, the ruling Congress Party had celebrated the 15th anniversary of Indian independence by establishing Hindi as India's...
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