Hyderabad: After Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu has now waded into the three-language controversy, endorsing ally Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) stance in a move that could intensify the linguistic debate in the country.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) biggest ally supported the three-language policy during the state Assembly session Monday, saying, “Telugu is our mother tongue, Hindi a national language while English is the international language.”
Naidu made the remarks in the House, with Jana Sena Party chief and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan seated just a row away.
“There is no meaning in detesting any language,” Naidu said amid the massive ongoing row between the BJP-led Centre and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in neighbouring Tamil Nadu over Hindi’s inclusion as part of the National Education Policy.
While apparently defending the three-language formula, Naidu added that language is a tool for communication, “not a barrier”.
“No point engaging in politics over languages. Language is a communication tool. I can communicate fluently on my visits to Delhi if I am well versed in Hindi,” the chief minister said.
Naidu, though, maintained that “we should never ignore our mother tongue”, adding that “people who were educated in their mother tongue have excelled worldwide”.
“The more languages you know, the more benefits you’ll have,” the chief minister said while presenting his “Swarna Andhra Vision 2047” document in the Assembly.
“Our people are moving to Germany, Japan etc., countries in search of good prospects. Learning such multiple languages will increase job opportunities in global markets,” he added.
While Naidu’s message was measured, his deputy Friday had been more aggressive, chastising Tamil Nadu politicians opposed to Hindi, accusing them of “abusing Sanskrit” and being agitated over alleged Hindi imposition.
In a statement seen as supporting the BJP and Narendra Modi government’s position on the three-language policy in education, the NDA ally wondered why Tamil films were being dubbed into Hindi even as the Hindi language is resisted in Tamil Nadu.
The actor-turned-politician said that if Hindi is unwelcome then “you shouldn’t dub Tamil movies into Hindi” and release them in north India.
“You want revenues from Hindi—from UP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh—but won’t accept their Hindi. How is it fair? You welcome migrant workers from Bihar but hate Hindi. Such thinking and attitude should change,” Pawan said at a rally in his assembly constituency, Pithapuram, Friday night. “We need not hate (some) languages.”
Also Read: The mother tongue fanatics are keeping India a poor, backward country
‘Won’t oppose if you don’t impose’
The Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister’s critical remarks come at a time when the M.K. Stalin-led DMK government in Tamil Nadu has declared an all-out war with the Modi government over what it calls the imposition of Hindi.
The DMK alleges that the BJP-led central government is attempting to impose Hindi via the three-language formula in the National Education Policy (NEP).
Forcing the language on Tamils amounts to playing with their self-respect, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and ruling DMK chief Stalin said in a letter to party members in February.
Over the past few weeks, DMK cadres have defaced signages and central government properties, including nameboards at railway stations displaying Hindi, by blackening out the characters at several locations across Tamil Nadu.
“We won’t oppose if you don’t impose; won’t blacken Hindi words in Tamil Nadu. Self-respect is Tamils’ unique characteristic and we will not allow anyone, whoever it is, to play with it,” Stalin said.
Kalyan’s comments Friday attracted the DMK’s disapproval. Party MP K. Kanimozhi took to X, suggesting that Kalyan had abandoned his earlier opposition to Hindi after joining the BJP.
Kalyan responded on the same social media platform, saying he never opposed Hindi as a language.
“I only opposed making it compulsory. When the NEP 2020 itself does not enforce Hindi, spreading false narratives about its imposition is nothing but an attempt to mislead the public,” he said. “Imposing a language forcibly or opposing blindly; neither helps achieve the objective of national and cultural integration of our Bharat.”
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
