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As central ministers defend education draft, DMK says don’t provoke Tamils

On Sunday, amidst massive backlash from regional parties over the draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019, two senior ministers in the central cabinet were engaged in efforts to firefight the onslaught of social media uproar. Taking to Twitter, Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar tweeted in Tamil to assuage fears of ‘Hindi imposition’ in non-Hindi speaking states in the country.

“The draft NEP will be finalised only after receiving feedback from the general public. The Prime Minister has initiated the #EkBharatSreshthaBharat campaign with the intention of promoting all Indian languages. The central government will be at the forefront of efforts to promote Tamil,” tweeted Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar meanwhile took to social media to say, “The central government will listen to people’s feedback and only then finalise the NEP. The government will take efforts to promote all Indian languages. The central government has no intention to impose any language on anyone.”

Hours after the tweets from the two ministers, the draft was revised and now does not mandate which specific languages students must study in middle school. But educationists cannot help but point out the irony in the tweets put out on Sunday for damage control.

“They put out tweets in Tamil, clearly targeting residents of Tamil Nadu who were vocal about their opposition to the draft policy. The only ministers who speak Tamil in the Centre have set out to talk to people of the state when the central government is actually trying to suppress the language,” points out educationist Prince Gajendra Babu. “Even now, the three language policy still remains. If this government really wants unity, they have to accept the diversity in the country,” he adds.

While Union Ministers jumped in to defend the Centre, the DMK adopted a resolution on Monday against proposed three language policy.

The party said, “This is an act that provokes the people of Tamil Nadu. I believe that in a country that has multiple language and cultures, the central government will not take a decision without understanding people’s opinions. Similarly, we ask the BJP in the Centre to not play with the sentiment of Tamilians”

The chorus against the policy had grown on Sunday, with Congress lawmaker from Kerala Shashi Tharoor and Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy too voicing their dissent against the Centre’s move. They issued warnings against forced imposition of Hindi in south Indian states, joining the fight led by the DMK in Tamil Nadu.

The state BJP, meanwhile, welcomed the decision by the Centre to engage Tamil speaking ministers to tackle the backlash.

“It was a very good move to get Nirmala Sitharaman and Jaishankar to tweet in Tamil,” says a state BJP leader on the condition of anonymity. “However, they completely undid any good from this act by revising the policy. The ministers had clearly said that it was just a draft and could be changed based on feedback. But by actually changing the content of the draft, the Centre has admitted to making a mistake. They have only poured more fuel on this.”

Source: The News Minute