The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday told the Madras High Court that there was no prohibition on learning Hindi in the State, which is dotted with several Hindi Prachar Sabhas, though it follows the two-language (Tamil and English) policy so as not to overburden school students.
Appearing before the first Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu, Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram said the avenues were aplenty for those who wanted to learn Hindi. The submissions were made at the hearing of a PIL petition which accused the State government of not adopting the National Education Policy 2020 for political reasons and because of the “false” fear of Hindi and Sanskrit being imposed on the State.
When the Advocate-General said the State does not follow a three-language policy and it insists on teaching only two languages to school students, the Acting Chief Justice asked, “What is wrong in following a three-language policy?” He said a judge had lamented to him that he once got selected for a top job in the Airports Authority of India but could not take it up only because he wasn’t proficient in Hindi. In reply, the Advocate-General said he had lived in the Hindi belts and had seen how they learnt nothing but Hindi. “They don’t even learn English,” he said and sought time to file a detailed counter-affidavit.
