NOVEMBER 4, 2022
Tejasvi Surya, BJP MP from Karnataka, tore into Congress over claims of Hindi imposition on non-Hindi speaking states by the BJP and accused the grand old party of trying to impose Hindi via its three-language policy.
“For a very long time, Dravidian parties and the Congress have tried to create a bogey of Hindi imposition on the BJP. In the constituent assembly, when the then Congress leaders tried to declare Hindi as the national language, it was my leader Syama Prasad Mukherjee who vociferously defended the rights of non-Hindi speaking states,” the BJP Yuva Morcha chief said at India Today Group’s Conclave in Mumbai.
He continued, “In 1962, Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the first MP to introduce a private members bill to include Sindhi into the eight schedule because we respect all languages. It is only under PM Modi that the revised National Education Policy allows freedom to choose any Indian language under the three-language policy. So my question is: In 1968 and 1986 when Indira and Rajiv Gandhi introduced a three-language policy, why was Hindi imposed?”
Congress party is an endangered species in the nation today and on the verge of extinction , says BJP’s @Tejasvi_Surya#ConclaveMumbai22 | @rahulkanwal
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— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) November 4, 2022
In 1968, a three-language formula was adopted by Parliament. It provided for the study of Hindi, English and an Indian language (preferably one of the southern languages) in the Hindi speaking states and Hindi, English and the regional language in the non-Hindi speaking states.
Recently, a parliamentary panel recommended that the medium of instruction in technical and non-technical higher education institutes such as the IITs in Hindi-speaking states should be Hindi and, in other parts of the country, the respective regional languages. It also recommended that Hindi should be one of the official languages of the United Nations.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai, on the question of Hindi imposition, pointed out that Hindi cannot be the only national language and many BJP leaders have clearly stated that.
“Unfortunately, DMK still live in the dream of 1965 when they started the anti-Hindi agitation. When Madhya Pradesh brought Hindi into the Engineering stream, why does Tamil Nadu have a problem? They keep saying this because they have failed in their governance,” he said at Conclave.
A few weeks ago, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief MK Stalin had warned the Centre against forcing another “language war by imposing” Hindi.
