Chennai: Language controversy has erupted again in Tamil Nadu with DMK working president M. K. Stalin accusing the Centre and Tamil Nadu government of trying to push the ‘alien’ Hindi into Dravida Nadu and swearing his party would oppose it tooth and nail.
BJP state president Dr. Tamilisai Sounderarajan has hit back telling Stalin not to play language politics detrimental to the TN youth’s employment prospects and the overall development in the state.
Lashing out at the Centre for attempting to impose Hindi and Sanskrit in the state, he blamed Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami for downplaying the situation. “Central government is pushing policies like NEET examination and Navodhaya schools as part of their grand plan towards digesting the state rights over education through incremental encroachment, thereby promote centralisation of the education”, he said. He claimed that funds allocated for celebrating Sanskrit Week and promoting Hindi are way larger than what is being allocated for promotion of Tamil language and culture.
He alleged that the state government which is supposed to play the role of protecting the state’s culture had turned into ‘corrupt fort guards,’ allowing the enemy free passage after acquiring a bribe. He stated the implementation of ‘3 language policy’ would pose serious danger to the mother tongue. “It is ironic to know that a party with Perarignar Anna’s name has chosen to adopt a slavish attitude in the war against Hindi imposition and has indeed chosen to play the role of the corrupt fort guards who ensure free passage to the enemies”, he said.
Reacting to his statement, BJP spokesperson Narayanan Tirupathy said, “BJP’s policy is three-language formula in schools. This will enable the people from other states living in Tamil Nadu to have the advantage of studying Tamil. In 2011, during the UPA rule, in all Kedriya Vidyalayas, Tamil was removed and German was replaced. In 2014, we re-instated Tamil in all Kendriya Vidyala schools.”
The DMK did not have the moral right to criticise the BJP. It does not want others to learn Hindi but want their members to learn Hindi to capture power in Delhi. “DMK denied opportunity for Tamils to learn other regional languages in Tamil Nadu. They cannot stop the three-language formula being implemented in Tamil Nadu,” he added.
