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The Centre’s decision to revise the draft education policy — by dropping the suggestion to make Hindi compulsory — may pacify protestors in southern parts of the country, but the Opposition is not satisfied with the move.
The draft is likely to be questioned in Parliament when it meets for the Budget session in the third week of June.
Almost all Opposition parties and members of the National Democratic Alliance such as the AIADMK and the PMK had questioned the Centre’s alleged move. While the Congress said the Centre was trying to impose Hindi through backdoor, Left parties said there was no need for adding such an issue in the policy.
The DMK said it will democratically fight any move to impose Hindi.
Congress spokesperson and Karnataka Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, in a tweet, reiterated his party’s stand against imposition of Hindi. “Looks like the Union Government has just revised the draft policy and dropped Hindi as a requirement. Now, the requirement is any three languages. However, we should still oppose this because this is nothing but imposing Hindi through backdoor,” he said.
The DMK urged the Centre not to play with the sentiments of Tamil Nadu. After a meeting of his party’s MPs and MLAs in Chennai, DMK President MK Stalin tweeted that the Centre’s move to amend the policy shows that former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi is living.
“Let us guard mother Tamil always by breaking up the hegemonic imposition of Hindi,” he said. “This meet categorically states that the DMK will democratically fight tooth and nail, any decision that may imperil the two-language policy in force in Tamil Nadu,” a resolution adopted at the meeting said.”
‘Sensitive issue’
CPI national secretary D Raja said there was no need for the Centre to bring such a sensitive issue into a draft policy. “If they are so keen to protect languages, they should first look at the tribal languages in the country. Will they start a mission to make scripts for many tribal languages in the country?” he said.
His party said in a statement that the Modi Government made a sinister attempt to impose Hindi in the name of three-languages formula. “The draft new education policy is not all about education, but also about how to impose Hindi as part of its agenda — of cultural nationalism,” the statement said.
The DMK was at the forefront of the protests in Tamil Nadu against the “three-language” formula.
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