Tamil Nadu Three Languages Policy: In an ongoing debate over alleged “imposed language” in southern states, the Supreme Court proposed a PIL that calls for the implementation of a trilingual formula in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal in 2020.
BJP lawyer GS Mani’s request said that the state’s refusal or failure to implement the central government’s national education policy or signing a memorandum of understanding could undermine the public interest or violate civil rights. Meanwhile, former Governor of Telangana and BJP leader Tamilisai Soundarajan was stopped by the police in an attempt to continue the BJP signature campaign in support of Chennai’s national education policy.
BJP State President K. Annamalai and others participated in the campaign, questioning the DMK’s opposition to the NEP’s three-language policy. BJP leader Soundararajan questioned why children were deprived of opportunities to learn another language, which would open up new job opportunities. Annamalai claimed that police had “arrest” Tamil Island Soundararajan and said the party would not back down.
This is the top update
1. Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai claimed on Thursday that more than 100,000 people across the state supported the Bharatiya Janata Party’s online online campaign on trilingual policy.
2. The petition filed seeks instructions from the state government to implement the national education policy and to sign a memorandum of understanding that involves basic public welfare and education rights, constitutional rights or government obligations that have been neglected or violated and can be well maintained. The petition states: “The state government is under a constitutional or legal obligation to implement the central government’s obligations to implement the national education policy for 2020 and enters the Memorandum of Understanding to implement the implementation of the above policies, plans or projects.”
3. All state governments except Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal have adopted and implemented the most important national education policy of the central government, namely the Trilingual Curriculum Policy.
4. In the petition, the national education policy is the main educational policy plan of the central government to provide the quality of school education for students from all walks of life. “All Indian languages should be taught for free to school children who belong to the poor, booked tribes, backward and most backward children.”
5. The petition says state governments in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal refuse to accept the three-language formula for political reasons, citing imposed Hindi.
6. The laws, plans and policies of the central government apply to all state governments. It added that the state government has the responsibility to enforce such policies, which is a fundamental obligation and right in the Constitution. “Free education is a fundamental right granted by the Constitution. Refusing to accept the program, the state government denied the fundamental right to free education for school children in question. Therefore, the Supreme Court should intervene in the matter and issue orders to the three state governments to immediately implement the central government’s national education policy.”
7. Although the Centre defends its step towards multilingualism, Tamil Nadu says this unfairly puts pressure on non-Indian language countries.
8. The Tamil Nadu government accused the central government of trying to push Hindi “side” through NEP, despite the state’s long-standing resistance to such policies.
9. The government’s strong opposition to the implementation of the NEP has attracted attention to the three-language formula and accused the center of “imposed” Hindi.
10. In an article on X, Annamalai attacked CM Stalin on the issue and said: “Recognizing that opposition to trilingual policy has not been supported by ordinary people, Thiru MK Stalin has now jumped to the imaginary Hindi.” The head of the Tamil Nadu BJP further claimed that Tamil was not mandatory in the admissions school.
(with ANI input)
