Tamil Nadu, Kerala oppose Hindi as medium of instruction in higher education

Tamil Nadu and Kerala, both ruled by non-BJP opposition parties, on Monday opposed the recommendation of a parliamentary panel on making Hindi as the medium of instruction in institutions of higher learning including at IITs. The states said it goes against the spirit of the Constitution and the country's linguistic diversity.

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin said imposing Hindi was against the integrity of India. "The BJP govt would do well to learn lessons from the Anti-Hindi agitations in the past," he said in a tweet.

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said, "imposing RSS vision of Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan on India's unique and rich linguistic diversity is simply unacceptable. “All 22 Official languages listed in the 8th schedule of the Constitution must be treated and encouraged equally. India is a celebration of its diversities," he said in a tweet.


Stalin accused the BJP regime of giving a 'rigorous thrust' for the imposition of Hindi at an alarming pace, "negating the diversity of India."

"The proposals made in the 11th volume of the report of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language are a direct onslaught on India's soul. If implemented, the vast non-Hindi speaking population will be made second-class citizens in their own land," he said.

In Karnataka, JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy urged the panel to withdraw its recommendations, saying that it would amount to imposition of one language on the entire country. It goes against the spirit of federalism and would divide the country into Hindi and non-Hindi regions, and curb the growth of local languages.

The Committee of Parliament on Official Language headed by Home Minister Amit Shah has recommended that the medium of instruction should mandatorily be Hindi in all technical or non-technical educational institutions including central universities. In its 11th volume of the report presented to President Draupadi Murmu last month, the Committee said English should be the medium of instruction only where it is absolutely necessary and gradually English should be replaced with Hindi.

“Use of Hindi as medium of instruction and other activities should be Hindi in all technical and non-technical institutions in the country and use of English should be made optional,” the committee said.

In Kerala, CPI(M) Central Committee member Thomas Isaac strongly opposed the recommendation. "India is being ruled by a party that does not believe in the diversity of the country. How else could it insist on knowledge of Hindi as a precondition for central government employment by insisting that the recruitment tests would be only in Hindi?," Isaac, who is also a former Finance Minister at Kerala, tweeted.