The ruling Congress Party was divided on the हिंदी issue. While Rajaji and his supporters stuck to their position, Sathyamurti and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan were against it. They wanted Rajaji to make हिंदी optional or to provide a conscience clause for allowing parents to withhold their children from हिंदी Classes. Satyamurti also disagreed with the use of Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1932 against the हिंदी-विरोधी agitators. In a letter written to Mahatma Gandhi on 7 July 1938, he wrote:
I personally believe that where a parent or guardian swears an affidavit before a magistrate stating his reasons that it is against his conscience that his boy or girl should learn Hindustani compulsorily, the child may be exempted. I personally believe very few parents or guardians will claim this exemption. This will expose the hollowness of the agitation and kill it. I wish you to write to Sri. C. Rajagopalachari suggesting this to him. Moreover, I am not very happy over the use by the Madras Government of the Criminal Law Amendment Act against these picketers..

Rajaji defended his action in another G.O issued on 14 June 1938:

He refused to give in to the demands of the agitators. He claimed they were motivated by their "prejudices of anti-Aryanism" and "Hatred of the Congress". He used the Criminal Law Amendment Act against the agitators. 1,198 protesters were arrested and out of them 1,179 were convicted (73 of those jailed were women and some of them went to jail with their children; 32 children accompanied their mothers to prison). Periyar was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment (he was released within six months on 22 May 1939 citing medical grounds) and Annadurai was jailed for four months. On 7 June 1939, all those arrested for participating in the agitations were released without explanation. Rajaji also organised pro-Hindustani meetings to counter the agitators.

शासकीय प्रतिक्रिया
१९४०-१९५०चा सत्याग्रह
भाषाविषयक सल्लागार समिती
१९६५ मधील विधेयकाबाबत प्रयत्न