Chennai: Stating that India is a multicultural and multilingual nation, Tamil Nadu Minister of Higher Education K Ponmudy said on Saturday that a single language for the country was not acceptable.
The recent statement by Union Home Secretary Amit Shah that Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English has sparked controversy in non-Hindi speaking states. At the two-day national conference on education, social justice and federalism organized by the student wing of the DMK, the minister said: “Students must know the international language English to communicate with others and a language to communicate in their own state”.
He pointed out that Tamil Nadu has followed a bilingual formula (English and Tamil) since the 1960s, which helps students to work in foreign countries. “After the agitation against the imposition of Hindi in 1965, there was again an attempt to make Hindi compulsory through a trilingual formula in the National Education Policy (NEP). We are not against studying any language. But the third language should be an optional language, not a compulsory one,” he said.
Stressing the importance of federalism, the minister said, “The BJP is trying to convert India into a unitary state,” he said.
Moreover, he said, unlike in the United States where governors are elected by the people, in India the Union government appoints governors as its representatives. “That’s why governors always act as agents of Union governments without protecting states’ rights,” Ponmudy said. He also said that some teachers and even vice-chancellors are now trying to saffronize educational institutions and urged students to spread the message of social harmony.
The national conference will host ministers and MPs, social activists from Kerala, West Bengal, Telangana and other states. Dravidar Kazhagam leader K Veeramani opened the conference.