Clearing the air on the recent furore in Tamil Nadu over the recommendation of the Draft National Education policy 2019 promoting Hindi as the mandatory third language in schools all over the country, several ministers at the Centre have come out to defend the move and clarify on various aspects of the National Education Policy (NEP) suggesting that Hindi won’t be thrust upon any state.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday assured people that the draft will be reviewed before implementation in a tweet. A similar opinion was shared by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar who clarified that there won’t be any imposition of Hindi language.
Likewise, Vice-President Venkiah Naidu also defended the government and asked people to study, analyse and debate the draft policy and not jump the gun. Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday agitated the forced imposition of the Hindi language on South Indian states, a sentiment previously expressed by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and DMK leader MK Stalin among others.
Nirmala Sitharaman had tweeted that the government will be implementing EkBharatSreshthaBharat policy only after hearing the public opinion. The Centre would support to honour and develop the ancient Tamil language. S. Jaishankar on the other hand in a series of tweets said the NEP doesn’t impose but encourages learning Hindi as a language in school.
The assurances also followed explanations from the Union Education Minister Ramesh Phkriyal and his predecessor Prakash Javadekar two days ago. The issue of Hindi becoming a mandatory subject across schools in South India is an emotive one particularly in Tamil Nadu, the region that saw anti-Hindi protests from 1937 to 1940 and again in 1965. The incident led to an assurance by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that Hindi will not be imposed on non-Hindi speaking states till their will and English would continue as a link language.
