The stand of the Maharashtra CM was a clear manifestation of his trepidation over the widespread public condemnation against imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking States, Stalin said
Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin demanded the immediate release of the Rs 2,152 crore, due to Tamil Nadu for the implementation of the Samagra Shiksha (SS) scheme, if teaching three languages was not at all compulsory under the National Education Policy (NEP) as claimed by Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.
In a message on social media channels on Monday, Stalin pointed out that the Union Government was facing a massive backlash for imposing Hindi as the third language as Fadnavis had now said that only Marathi was compulsory in his State.
The stand of the Maharashtra Chief Minister was a clear manifestation of his trepidation over the widespread public condemnation against imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking States, Stalin said.
It was wrong to say that attempts were being made to impose Hindi in Maharashtra, Fadnavis told the media in Pune after the language advisory committee of that State’s Marathi department recommended the revocation of the decision mandating Hindi as the third language in Classes 1 to 5.
Referring to his Maharashtra counterpart’s remarks, Stalin said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan should clarify if the Union Government endorsed the position that no language other than Marathi was compulsory in Maharashtra as the third language under NEP.
Raising the question if the Union Government would issue a clear directive to all States affirming that the NEP did not require the compulsory teaching of a third language, he also asked if the Rs 2,152 crore that was unjustly withheld for Tamil Nadu would be released.
The funds were held back on the premise that the State must subscribe to the teaching of a mandatory third language, he said. Pradhan had even asked openly why Tamil Nadu was resisting the implementation of the NEP when other States had obliged, triggering a political storm in the State.
Now with Maharashtra, too, becoming vociferous in its opposition to Hindi imposition through the NEP, Tamil Nadu’s demand is likely to resonate in other regions of the country where learning Hindi is seen as a needless additional burden on students.
The Maharashtra language consultation committee itself had said that making students learn Hindi along with Marathi and English would burden them and that it was not the right thing to do.
