Tamil Nadu Hindi row: Senior DMK leader Kanimozhi has said that the ruling party of Tamil Nadu was not against any language but against the ‘imposition’ of Hindi by the Centre.
Kanimozhi’s clarification comes amid the war of words between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in Tamil Nadu and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the centre over the alleged imposition of Hindi language refuses to die down.
Kanimozhi, in an interview with NDTV, said that languages can definitely ‘coexist’ as different people from different parts of Tamil Nadu speak different languages.
“In many schools, we teach Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. It is not that languages cannot co-exist. We have different people from different parts of the country speaking different languages. So co-existing is not a problem, only imposing is,” she said.
‘Another language war’
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said on February 25 that his state is prepared for “another language war” as tensions rise with the Centre over the alleged ‘imposition of Hindi’ through the National Education Policy (NEP). Stalin accused the Centre of politicising education and withholding crucial funds from the state. Earlier, Stalin said Tamil Nadu would not sign the NEP, even if the Union government offered substantial financial assistance.
Kanimozhi said in the NDTV interview that the north-south divide has been deepened by non-observance of one of the conditions when the education policy was formulated.
“When the rules were formulated, it was clear that the states in the north will learn one southern language and the southern states will learn one north Indian language,” she said
“Today, Kerala, Karnataka learn Hindi. Show me one north Indian state that has learnt any South Indian language,” she added, saying that the three-language principle is not necessarily better.
Three-language policy
The three-language policy is a long-standing flashpoint between southern states and the centre. The issue resurfaced five years ago when the NEP was announced. Tamil Nadu and the Centre are in contention over the NEP’s three-language policy, which mandates the study of Hindi, English, and a regional language.
Tamil Nadu has historically had a ‘two-language’ policy – Tamil and English, and protested against what it calls ‘Hindi imposition‘ in 1930s and 1960s as well.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has declared that the state would not receive around ₹2,400 crore in funds for the ongoing Samagra Siksha mission unless it adopts the National Education policy in its entirety. CM Stalin responded that it was “blackmail”.
We are not against any language but against the ‘imposition’ of Hindi by the Centre.
The BJP has stepped up its three-language push in the state, which will vote in an Assembly election next year. The saffron party is expected to launch a campaign on March 1.
The BJP has never won elections in Tamil Nadu. In 2016, it contested all 234 seats but won zero. In 2021, the BJP fielded candidates on 20 seats and won four. The BJP won no Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu in 2019 and 2024.
