n Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying “the aggressive attempts of the Union Government” to impose Hindi are “impractical and divisive in character”, and put non-Hindi-speaking people in a very disadvantageous position in many respects. Stalin staunchly opposed what he called a Parliamentary panel’s “recommendation” that for specific jobs, aspirants should have learnt the Hindi language.
Writing to Modi, Stalin referred to media reportage on a report of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Languages.
Stalin said: “It has been reported that the Committee, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, submitted its report to the President of India, wherein inter-alia, has recommended that Hindi should be the compulsory medium of instruction in educational institutions of the Union Government such as IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and central universities and Hindi should replace English.”
It also includes a recommendation that Hindi shall be made as the medium of instruction in all technical, non-technical institutions and all the Union Government institutions including Kendriya Vidyalayas.
The Chief Minister, who is also the president of the ruling DMK said that it has been recommended by the panel that, “youth would be eligible for certain jobs only if they had studied Hindi, and removal of English (is proposed) in recruitment exams. Such proposals are against the federal principles of Constitution and would only harm the nation’s multi-lingual fabric, he said.
Efforts to “impose” Hindi in various ways as recommended in that report should not be taken forward and the “glorious flame of unity of India may be held high forever,” the Chief Minister requested. Stalin demanded that all languages should be accorded the status of official language of the Union Government.