The DMK’s proclivity for seceding from India has come out in the open with the declaration by Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin that the Dravidian party would destroy and eradicate Hindi once and for ever from the State. Weeks after Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi Stalin, the deputy chief minister made it known that the DMK would ensure the eradication of Sanatana Dharma, from the Dravidian heartland, the former quoted a Tamil poet in his social media as a reply to to union minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan rejecting Tamil Nadu’s demand for central funds for implementing the state’s education programs.
The Centre’s decision to hold back the fund was the fall out of Tamil Nadu’s adamant attitude against the New Education Policy which includes the three-language formula for curriculum in schools. Tamil Nadu’s opposition towards Hindi is infamous as the agitation launched by the Dravidian major has claimed hundreds of lives in the 1960s. Tamil Nadu is the only State in India which has not allowed Navodaya Vidyalayas, a dream project of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who wanted students in rural areas across the country should get subsidized public school education.
“Oh Hindi Language, in the midst of this joyful Dravidian land, it is you who will be cast aside. Oh Hindi, that has caused so much suffering, your cunningness will not deceive us! When Tamil youth speak, they open their mouths to the sweet Tamil, lovingly given by their mother. If we re forced to feed you, then is it not also our duty to destroy you,” Stalin writes quoting a late Tamil chauvinist poet.
What made Stalin furious is Pradhan’s letter to him on Friday in which the latter asked him not to view the NEP with myopic eyes. “The continued opposition to NEP 2020 for political reasons deprive students, teachers and educational institutions in Tamil Nadu of the immense opportunities and resources that this policy offers. The policy is designed to be flexible, allowing States to customise their implementation to suit their unique educational needs,”Pradhan reminded Stalin. The Union Minister also emphasised various programmes associated with NEP 2020 which are capable of elevating the institutions to exemplar schools.
But the vicious attack launched by Stalin against Hindi and NEP 2020 has opened a pandora’s box. Josephine Jayasnathi, a former Tamil professor at Loyola College, the alma mater of Udhanidhi and his wife Kritika questioned the propriety of chief minister’s opposition to Hindi and NEEP. “The chief minister and his deputy speak the language of secessionists. It is an open secret that Stalin is for seceding Tamil Nadu and form an independent Tamil nation which is detrimental to the State as well as the country,” said Prof Jayashanti.
Prof R Vaidyanathan, educationist and former professor of IIM, Bangalore challenged the DMK to show at least one sentence from NEP 2020 which speaks of imposing Hindi. “Stalin cannot destroy Hindi. All private schools including the one owned by his daughter (Sunshine School, Chennai) teach Hindi. He should not forget the fact that Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha set up by Mahatma Gandhi has its headquarters in Chennai and it has helped hundreds of Hindi Pracharaks to get job in south India,” said Prof Vaidyanathan who authored the pathbreaking “Caste as Social Capital”, a book that took India by storm.
K Annamalai, the State BJP chief did some plain speaking on Friday when he pointed out that schools owned by the DMK leaders teach three languages while children of common man who go to government run schools are taught only two languages. “The DMK leaders maintain three wives -wife, concubine and mistress. Even for watching movies, the Tamil people have to follow the diktat of Udhayanidhi who decides the movies to be made and released,” said Annamalai while addressing a public meeting at Karur.
But the DMK’s politicians’ hatred for Hindi is in stark contrast to the super stars of Tamil filmdom who never hesitate to bend backwards to stoke the movie makers of Bollywood to get a role in Hindi films.
