tn-bjp-to-launch-signature-campaign-to-promote-nep

Amid the growing tension in Tamil Nadu against imposition of Hindi, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to start a signature campaign across the state to seek support for the National Education Policy. 

 

The campaign will be led by state BJP chief Annamalai. 

 

It has been learnt that this effort aims to collect signatures from NEP supporters. 

 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief MK Stalin has turned this into an issue. 

 

The ruling DMK, on Thursday, has been alleging Hindi imposition by the Centre through the 3-language formula as part of the National Education Policy (NEP), a charge denied by the union government. The issue has since become a bone of contention between the two, prompting Stalin to declare the state was even ready for "another language war," like the anti-Hindi agitation the DMK spearheaded in 1965.

 

Also read: Shah slams Stalin over funds, delimitation claims

 

In the letter, Stalin claimed many north Indian languages spoken in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh such as Mythili, Brajbhasha, Bundelkhandi and Awadhi "have been destroyed by the hegemonic Hindi." "More than 25 north Indian native languages have been destroyed by the invasion of hegemonic Hindi-Sanskrit languages. The century-old Dravidian movement safeguarded Tamil and its culture because of the awareness it created and the various agitations," the ruling DMK chief said.

As per reports, the ruling BJP hit back quickly, dismissing the remark as "silly".

 

Tamil Nadu is opposing NEP because the Centre is trying to impose Hindi and Sanskrit through the education policy, he added.

 

Countering BJP's contention that the third language according to the NEP could be even a foreign one, Stalin claimed that according to the 3-language policy schedule," only Sanskrit is being promoted in many states." BJP-ruled Rajasthan was appointing Sanskrit teachers instead of Urdu instructors, he claimed.

 

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday denied any injustice to Tamil Nadu by the Centre as claimed by Stalin over fund allocation and described as diversionary attempts, the Chief Minister raking up the delimitation issue.