Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that efforts to impose the Hindi language are “unacceptable”. CM Vijayan informed him of Kerala’s stand in the wake of reports on the recommendation of the official language committee of Parliament to make the medium of examinations conducted for central services in Hindi and to make Hindi a compulsory language of study in educational institutions, including IITs and IIMs.
“The essence of India is defined by the concept of ‘unity in diversity’ which acknowledges cultural and linguistic diversity. Acknowledging this, it is brotherhood, tolerance, and mutual respect between different peoples that sustain our country. The Chief Minister said that promoting any one language above others would destroy this integrity,” said Vijayan.
In terms of education, the Kerala CM said the Centre has to accept the characteristics of states.
He said making employment exams in Hindi would result in the denial of employment to a large percentage of youth in the country. Moreover, the imposition of Hindi is against the principle of cooperative federalism, he said.
The Chief Minister demanded that the central government should withdraw from the efforts to impose the Hindi language.
Telangana IT, Industries and Commerce Minister K.T. Rama Rao also wrote a letter to PM Modi. In his letter to the PM, KTR has detailed the far-reaching disastrous impact of the unconstitutional recommendation on the future of current and future generations, the division it could cause between various parts of India, and other crucial aspects.
Drawing focus on how indirect imposition of Hindi is currently ruining the lives of crores of youngsters, the Minister said that students who pursue education in regional languages are losing out on central government job opportunities as questions in qualifying tests for central jobs are in Hindi and English.
He further requested the Prime Minister to conduct the exams in regional languages for the benefit of the job aspirants.
«Besides, in this highly competitive globalised world, the recommendation of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language could take us backwards in terms of the nation›s development», said K.T.R.
Pointing at the huge non-Hindi-speaking population in India, he said that the central government’s move to make Hindi mandatory will lead to socio-economic divisions in our country.