Tamil Nadu will never allow Centre’s three-language policy, CM tells PM Modi; Stalin thanks EPS

CHENNAI: Expressing anguish over the Centre’s new education policy (NEP) that promotes a three-language formula, Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider it.

In a statement, the chief minister said the three-language policy found mention in the recently released NEP would never be allowed in Tamil Nadu.

“The people of Tamil Nadu have been firm in the two-language policy for eight decades,” Palaniswami said, vowing to continue the two-language formula.

He said Tamils had expressed their sentiments through several agitations on several occasions in the past.

Section 3 of the Official Languages Act, 1963 states that the English language shall be used for purposes of communication between the Union and a state which has not adopted Hindi as its official language. The state saw fiery anti-Hindi agitations in 1965 when the then Congress regime made attempts.

“The popular sentiment in the state, and that of the majority of the political parties including the AIADMK, is a two-language policy. At this juncture, the three-language policy of the Centre’s new education policy causes anguish,” Palaniswami said.

He urged Modi to re-examine the policy considering the sentiments of the whole of Tamil Nadu and ensure the states follow their own.

The chief minister wrote a letter to Modi on June 26 last year, opposing the three-language formula when the draft NEP was released by the Centre. He also put forth his government’s stand clearly during his Independence Day speech last year and during several debates in the assembly.

The chief minister sought to recall a resolution passed by the MGR government in 1986 endorsing the two-language formula.

He said former chief minister J Jayalalithaa had vowed to thwart the attempts to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states. She had continuously batted for Tamil as official language and Tamil as official language of the Madras high court, he said.

“Both Puratchi Thalaivar MGR and Puratchi Thalaivi Amma firmly opposed the imposition of Hindi,” the CM said.

In January 1968, the C N Annadurai-led DMK regime passed a resolution in the assembly, scrapping the three-language formula, following which Hindi was removed from the curriculum completely.

DMK president M K Stalin welcomed the state government’s stand. “I thank the chief minister for opposing the three-language formula in the new education policy,” Stalin tweeted.

“Not just the language issue, the chief minister must also oppose the new education policy. Several party leaders have opposed it,” he tweeted further.