Tamil Nadu Hindi Line: Kanimozhi, a senior DMK leader, said the ruling party in Tamil Nadu is not against any language, but against the “imposed” of the center on Hindi.
Kanimozhi’s clarification was fought in a verbal war between the Dravida Munatra Kasag (DMK) government in Tamil Nadu and the BHARATIYA JANATA Party (BJP) government of the Centre.
In an interview with NDTV, Kanimozhi said that languages can certainly “coexist” because different people from different regions in Tamil Nadu speak different languages.
“In many schools, we teach Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. It’s not that languages cannot coexist. We have people who speak different languages from different parts of the country. So coexistence is not a problem, only strongly,” she said.
“Another language war”
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said on February 25 that his status is ready for “another language war” as tensions intensify with the so-called “Hindi” through the National Education Policy (NEP). Stalin accused the center of politicizing education and withheld important funds from the state. Stalin earlier said Tamil Nadu would not sign the NEP even if the coalition government provided a lot of financial aid.
Kanimozi said in an NDTV interview that the North-South divide has deepened the North-South divide through one of the conditions for formulating education policies.
“After the rules were made, it was clear that the northern states would learn a southern language and the southern states would learn a North Indian language,” she said.
She added: “Today, Kerala, Karnataka learns Hindi. Show me a North Indian state that has learned any South Indian language.” She said the three-language principle is not necessarily better.
Trilingual Policy
Trilingual policy is a long-term flash point between southern states and centers. The issue surfaced when the NEP was announced five years ago. Tamil Nadu and the Centre have disputed the trilingual policy of NEP, which calls for research on Hindi, English and regional languages.
Tamil Nadu has historically had a “two-language” policy – Tamil and English, and protested what was called “Hindi imposition” in the 1930s and 1960s.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announces that the state will not be in ₹Unless all national education policies are adopted, the Rs 24 billion Samagra Siksha mission is funded. CM Stalin replied that this was “ransomware”.
We are not against any language, but against the “imposition” of the center on Hindi.
The BJP has strengthened its trilingual impetus in the state, which will vote in next year’s general election. The Saffron Party is expected to launch an event on March 1.
The BJP has never won an election in Tamil Nadu. In 2016, it competed for all 234 seats but won zero. In 2021, the DPP sent candidates in 20 seats and won four seats. BJP did not win a Lok Sabha seat from Tamil Nadu in 2019 and 2024.
