“No Shah, Sultan or Samrat should try to snatch away rights granted to citizens with respect to their language in the Constitution,” iconic Tamil actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) President Kamal Haasan said on Monday, breaking his silence on the controversy over Hindi imposition.

The actor, quite vocal in his love for Tamil language, also warned of a bigger agitation than the one for the traditional bull-taming sport Jallikattu in 2017 if the Centre went ahead in imposing Hindi on those speaking other languages.

“We respect all languages, but our mother language will always be Tamizh. Jallikattu was a small protest and a small victory. The battle for our language will be exponentially bigger than that. That danger is unnecessary for both Tamizh Nadu and India,” Kamal Haasan said in a video message released on his social media pages.

Recalling integration of several princely states to form the nation now known as India, Kamal Haasan said several people and regions remained firm on not losing their language and distinct culture.

“This promise of unity in diversity was reaffirmed to citizens when India adopted its constitution in 1950. No Shah, Sultan or Samrat should try to snatch away the rights just like that,” the actor said.His statement is seen as a direct attack on Home Minister Amit Shah, who rekindled the controversy on Saturday by calling for integrating the country through Hindi.

Tamil Nadu has been at the forefront of opposing the imposition of Hindi since the 1960s and had led vociferous protests for years together in the state on the issue. It backed off only after the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had in 1963 promised to continue with English as a “link language.”

Kamal Haasan, whose Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) scored 3.72 per cent in the April Lok Sabha polls, projects his party as an alternative to the Dravidian majors – DMK and AIADMK – and has made Tamil pride and identity harbinger of his party’s principles.

“India is an excellent treat that should be cherished together by all. If you force something, people will puke,” the actor warned.

"Most of the Nation happily sings the National Anthem in Bengali with pride and will continue to do so," Kamal Haasan said noting that the poet who wrote the anthem, Rabindranath Tagore, gave due respect to all languages and culture within the song.“Do not make an inclusive India into an exclusive one. All will suffer because of such short-sighted folly,” the actor said.