NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Monday that people who study in their mother tongue are excelling worldwide. He mentioned that there is a common belief that knowledge comes only through English, but he disagrees.
Addressing the Assembly in Amravati, Naidu said, “Language is only for communication. Knowledge will not come with language. Only people who study in their mother tongue are excelling across the world. It is easy to learn (through the mother tongue).”
He also said, “I am telling this very clearly to you… language is not for hating. Here (in Andhra Pradesh) the mother tongue is Telugu. Hindi is the national language and international language is English.”
Naidu said people should learn multiple languages for work while keeping their mother tongue. He added that learning Hindi would help in communication in Delhi.
Referring to people traveling to countries like Japan and Germany, he said learning those languages in India would make it easier for them when they go abroad.
His comments follow a recent statement by Andhra Pradesh deputy CM and Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan backing the three-language policy proposed in the NEP, amid the ongoing debate between the Union government and Tamil Nadu state government over the policy.
Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister had said on Saturday, March 15, that claims of Hindi being imposed are misleading.
“Either imposing a language forcibly or opposing a language blindly; both doesn’t help to achieve the objective of National & Cultural integration of our Bharat. I had 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,” Kalyan said.
Kalyan’s statement came in response to Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, who has accused the Union government of imposing Hindi and has refused to implement the three-language formula under NEP.
What’s the issue?
The debate over the National Education Policy (NEP) revolves around its three-language formula, which Tamil Nadu fears may result in the imposition of Hindi in the state. Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin has expressed concerns that the policy gives more importance to Hindi over regional languages, affecting the state’s linguistic identity and autonomy.
The central government, however, argues that the NEP promotes multilingualism and provides flexibility in language education. Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has denied that Hindi is being imposed, saying that states have the freedom to choose their languages under the policy.
The dispute escalated after the Centre withheld Rs 2,152 crore meant for Tamil Nadu’s Samagra Shiksha scheme, citing the state’s refusal to implement the NEP. Tamil Nadu has traditionally opposed the three-language formula, seeing it as a move toward enforcing Hindi, while the central government maintains that the policy helps students find job opportunities across different regions.
