Opposition grows against BJP govt’s Hindi imposition

Hyderabad: The BJP-led union government’s attempts, to replace English with Hindi as the medium of instruction in educational institutions and also give it priority in Central government jobs, have triggered an outrage in non-Hindi speaking States, especially in South India. Though the Centre has been claiming that it was just a recommendation for Hindi-speaking States, […]

Hyderabad: The BJP-led union government’s attempts, to replace English with Hindi as the medium of instruction in educational institutions and also give it priority in Central government jobs, have triggered an outrage in non-Hindi speaking States, especially in South India. Though the Centre has been claiming that it was just a recommendation for Hindi-speaking States, the non-Hindi-speaking States are arguing that such a move would force their students to confine their education to only the Central educational institutions located in South India.

The Parliamentary panel on the Official language headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah recommended that Hindi be made the medium of instruction in technical and non-technical higher education institutes such as IITs in Hindi-speaking States and in other parts of India their respective local language. The Parliamentary committee also made over 100 recommendations including preference to local languages over English in respective States, action against officers and employees who deliberately do not use Hindi at work in Hindi-speaking States, and also make Hindi mandatory for official communication in the Central government offices, Ministries and departments, among others.

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Opposing the Parliamentary Committee’s recommendations, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan along with TRS (BRS) working president and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao raised their voice against the Centre’s Hindi imposition. Stalin termed the recommendations a “direct onslaught on India’s soul” and stated that if implemented, a vast non-Hindi speaking population would be made second-class citizens in their own land.

Rama Rao accused the Narendra Modi government of “flouting the federal spirit”. He reminded that India did not have a national language and that Hindi is one among the many official languages. “To impose Hindi by way of mandating in IITs and central government recruitments, the NDA government is flouting the federal spirit. Indians should have a choice of language and we say No to Hindi Imposition,” he said.

Pinarayi Vijayan pointed out the Hindi imposition will be “disadvantage to a vast majority of people in the country in matters of education and employment. This callous move, an affront on cooperative federalism, has to be opposed unitedly,” he added. “Youth have limited job opportunities in the government sector and it would not be in the best interest of the society if any attempt to put a substantial section of them at a relative disadvantage is made,” he was quoted as saying.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy accused the BJP of “conspiring to make Bharat a Hindistan by imposing Hindi language”. “The union government is enacting a fake drama to control the whole of India through a hidden agenda. With the mindset of a dictator, it is being conspired to make India Hindistan by trampling Kannada and regional languages,” he added.

Several civic organisations and language experts from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Odisha too have opposed the Centre’s proposals. They argued that the Parliamentary panel’s recommendations are in contradiction to the new National Education Policy which suggests to have the medium of teaching at primary level in the mother tongue.