Following the row over NCERT textbooks, those of the State syllabus too have now come under fire. Strongly criticising the description of Hindi as the “national language” in the Samacheer Kalvi Class X Social Science textbook, PMK founder S Ramadoss on Sunday demanded its immediate removal.
Describing the statement as a “historical blunder”, Ramadoss — whose party, incidentally, was an ally of the DMK, which conceived Samacheer Kalvi — wanted criminal proceedings to be initiated against those who had authored the books.
The paragraphs in contention appear on page 253 of the Class X Social Science textbook. In the chapter titled ‘Vetrumayil Otrumai’ (Unity in Diversity), the sub-section under the heading ‘Language’ says, “Hindi, which is in the Devanagari form, has been selected as the national language.”
In his statement, Ramadoss said similar information was seen in last year’s Class VIII Social Science textbook brought out under the DMK regime. Though it was removed following a review of the syllabus after the AIADMK government took over, the content in the Class X book published during the DMK regime was retained.
India being a federation of States speaking different tongues, no single language has been given the “national language” status, he said.
Even Section 343 of the Constitution clearly states that Hindi will only be an official language.