VIJAYAWADA: Condemning criticism surrounding his remarks on the three-language system during Jana Sena‘s 12th Formation Day celebrations at Pithapuram in Andhra Pradesh on Friday, Andhra Pradesh deputy CM Pawan Kalyan said on “X” on Saturday that his views had been misrepresented for political motives.
“Either imposing a language forcibly or opposing a language blindly – both do not help achieve the objective of national and cultural integration in Bharat,” he stated, emphasising that he never opposed Hindi as a language but only objected to making it compulsory.
He had during a speech on Friday said there was a need to embrace linguistic diversity to maintain the integrity of the nation and foster love and unity among the people. “India needs multiple languages, including Tamil, and not just two. Why do Tamil Nadu politicians oppose Hindi while allowing their movies to be dubbed in Hindi for financial gains? They want money from Bollywood but refuse to accept Hindi. What kind of logic is that,” he had asked.
The Jana Sena chief’s remarks amid an ongoing language war between the DMK govt in Tamil Nadu and Centre over “imposition” of Hindi through the three-language formula in the new National Education Policy (NEP).
Defending NEP, Pawan said the policy does not enforce Hindi and that allegations that it is being imposed amount to a “misleading narrative”. He said NEP allows students to choose any two Indian languages along with a foreign language, which ensures flexibility in education.
“If students do not wish to learn Hindi, they can opt for any other Indian language, including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Assamese, Kashmiri, Odia, Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu, and others,” he said. He said claims about him changing his stance reflect a lack of understanding. He reaffirmed that Jana Sena firmly supports linguistic freedom and educational choice.
