NEW DELHI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Dayanidhi Maran said on Monday that his party will intensify its protest in Parliament against the Centre’s move to impose ‘Hindi’ in Tamil Nadu.
He told this paper that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is trying to cover up the ‘NEET exam fiasco’ by bringing up the three-language policy in Tamil Nadu. “Tamil Nadu has been following the two-language policy for several years, and successfully implemented it. The minister suddenly devised the three-language policy to cover up the NEET fiasco,” he said.
Maran also strongly contested Pradhan’s claim that the Tamil Nadu government had agreed to sign the education policy. “Pradhan lied by saying that the DMK government had agreed to sign NEP. DMK never agreed to NEP or the three-language policy. All we said was that we can’t. Why should our students in Tamil Nadu learn three languages, whereas students from North India learn only one? They don’t even read English,” he said.
He pointed out that Tamil Nadu has the highest enrollment rate in the country. “We have good administrative systems, and our enrollment rate is the highest in the country. It is higher than even the national average. Why do you want to derail us?”
While the Centre accuses the Tamil Nadu government of depriving students by not offering the option of learning three languages, Maran said the state government knows what’s best for the students.
We have successfully implemented the noon meal scheme, and the students spend more time in school. That’s the reason our enrollment rate is so high. We have a scheme where people who study in state schools and colleges are absorbed by the government. So we have gone so much ahead and are leading the race right now,” he said.
Maran stressed that Tamil Nadu’s opposition was not against Hindi but the imposition of three languages. “We are not against Hindi. If there are students who want to learn Hindi, they are free to do so, but it should not be compulsory. We are not against Hindi-speaking people. We are not against the language,” he asserted.
India has already lost so many mother tongues. “From Marwari to Bhojpuri, many languages have gone.” He also said that party leaders are coordinating with other parties to join the protest in Parliament.