Senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi questioned the need to learn Hindi. She said the centre blocked Rs 5,000 crore in funds after Tamil Nadu refused to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) that mandates the three-language policy.
Kanimozhi’s comments come amid a heated language row in Tamil Nadu with the DMK alleging that the BJP-led NDA is trying to impose Hindi on them. Chief Minister MK Stalin also said that the state would be ready for another language war if the centre tries to impose Hindi.
Speaking to India Today TV, Kanimozhi said, "What is the need for anybody to learn Hindi? What do we get? What do we gain by learning Hindi? I have never learnt Hindi. My son, who went to school in Tamil Nadu, did not learn Hindi. I don’t think that every student in Tamil Nadu wants to learn Hindi.”
She said that the three-language issue was not initiated by the DMK but the central government. “Centre withheld Rs 5,000 crore in funds meant for Tamil Nadu, after we refused to implement the NEP, which mandates a three-language policy.”
The MP stated that English already serves as a link language, connecting the state with the rest of the nation and the world. "So what do I gain by learning another language that is not my mother tongue?" she asked.
Kanimozhi said that Tamil Nadu was exempted from the three-language formula under the Official Languages Act passed in Parliament. Speaking about the past struggles in the state against Hindi imposition, she said, "After that struggle, there was a promise that Hindi or the three-language policy would not be imposed in Tamil Nadu.”
The language policy formulated in 1976 mandated that Hindi-speaking states should learn at least one South Indian language under the three-language system, she said. "Can you show me any state in North India that follows this rule? None. Even in Kendriya Vidyalayas in Tamil Nadu, only Hindi, Sanskrit, and English are taught, leaving no space for Tamil or other regional languages,” she said.
The MP said that they are not stopping anyone from learning Hindi. If the parents or students want to learn they are free to but imposing a language does not empower students, she said.