Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin recently accused the BJP-led Central government of “sowing the seeds of language war” by imposing Hindi in the state. He claimed that the dominance of Hindi would not be allowed and he would not allow Hindi to be imposed on his state.
Stalin says he is not against any particular language, but would not allow any other language to dominate and destroy the mother tongue Tamil.

Stalin’s reservation about the three-language policy has a political angle ahead of the assembly elections next year.
Opposition to the alleged ‘imposition of Hindi’ is not new in Tamil Nadu. The first attempt to make Hindi compulsory in 1937 was met with massive protests and the British government had to withdraw the order. In 1965, 70 people lost their lives in protests against making Hindi the national language. The state has been following a two-language policy (Tamil and English) since 1968.

As per the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, students in schools will have to learn three languages, at least two of which will be of Indian origin. This means that apart from the state language, children will have to learn at least one other Indian language and not necessarily Hindi. However, Tamil Nadu fears that this is an attempt to take away the linguistic independence of the state by imposing Hindi through the ‘back door’.

This formula is stated clearly in para 4.13 of NEP 2020 which states that, “The three-language formula will continue to be implemented while keeping in mind the Constitutional provisions, aspirations of the people, regions, and the Union, and the need to promote multilingualism as well as promote national unity. However, there will be a greater flexibility in the three-language formula, and no language will be imposed on any State. The three languages learned by children will be the choices of States(emphasis supplied), regions, and of course the students themselves, so long as at least two of the three languages are native to India.” Thus this Three Language Formula enumerated in NEP 2020 is suggestive, inclusive, equitable and flexible, unlike any earlier National Education Policies. It doesn’t impose or prescribe any particular language.

National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023 refers to Language1, Language2 and Language3 of the Three Language Formula as R1, R2 and R3 and the........

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