The draft of the National Education Policy, which proposes a three-language formula, has evoked strong opposition from political parties in Tamil Nadu, which has witnessed anti-Hindi agitations in the past.
"The Centre should not think, even in a distant dream, about implementing the three-language policy by sabotaging the existing two-language policy. The Centre’s greed will be self-damaging," said DMK president M.K. Stalin. He said his party will not hesitate to launch another massive protest against the imposition of Hindi. Alleging that the policy was drafted with the motive of imposing Hindi on non-Hindi-speaking States, Mr. Stalin said one should not forget the promise of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that English would be the link language and Hindi would not be imposed as long as non-Hindi-speaking States were against it. He said Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami should openly oppose the Centre's move and, if he did not have the courage to do that, he should remove the words ‘Anna’ and ‘Dravida’ from the name of his party, the AIADMK.
Expressing shock over the three-language policy, PMK founder S. Ramadoss said it was unacceptable to impose Hindi on T.N. students. He expressed satisfaction with the CM’s letter to the Centre opposing the move and School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan’s assertion that the two-language policy will continue in T.N. At present, schools in the State teach English and Tamil.
MDMK leader Vaiko said if Hindi was imposed, there will be an explosion of anti-Hindi protests in Tamil Nadu, this time with much greater vigour and intensity. He said the entire education policy had paved the way for the government giving up its responsibility and allowing the private sector to take over the education industry.
"Three languages policy is nothing but imposition of Hindi. I have pointed out that even in the BJP's manifesto there was a hint for imposition of Hindi," former Union Minister P. Chidambaram tweeted.
Actor-politician Kamal Haasan said he was of the view that no language should be imposed on anyone. CPI(M) State secretary K. Balakrishnan and CPI State secretary R. Mutharasan also urged the Centre to drop the proposal for a three-language policy.
