Hindi imposition row: The Narendra Modi government’s decision to make Hindi mandatory third language till Class 8 in Tamil Nadu schools via a proposed draft education policy has provided enough ammo to the ruling JDS-Congress coalition in Karnataka to mount a scathing attack on the NDA regime at the Centre.
Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah said the state will not compromise with the Centre on the subject of its language, land or water. The JDS-Congress coordination committee chairman also urged every politician in the state to come forward and oppose the Centre’s move. He said languages other than one’s mother tongue could be optional, but its forceful imposition will stunt a child’s learning abilities.
Though, the Centre on Saturday clarified that no language will be imposed on any state and the draft policy was placed in the public domain for comments, state chief minister HD Kumaraswamy warned the Centre not to implement the Draft National Education Policy 2019 or impose Hindi on a state in the name of the three-language formula. The Congress leaders took it further on Monday morning by attacking the Centre.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao also requested the Centre to stop behaving like a government of only Hindi-speaking people.
After the #StopHindiImposition protests gained momentum in Tamil Nadu, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on Monday said there will be no imposition of Hindi language on students of non-Hindi
speaking states. According to the government’s Draft National Education Policy 2019, Hindi and English languages would be made compulsory in schools, while students can also choose a regional language of their own as an alternative to promote local languages. The plan has backfired after several non-Hindi speaking states have come out against it and accused the BJP government of trying to enforce its “Hindutva” ideology on people.
Dismissing the apprehensions over three language formula as recommended in the draft policy, Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said that the committee has only submitted its report to
Ministry which is not the policy.
