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Amid language row, Amit Shah says his ministry will use states' languages for communication
The home minister said there have been enough divisions in the nation over language and this should not happen anymore.
Amid a row over the three-language formula in the National Education Policy, union home minister Amit Shah said on Friday that his ministry would communicate with states in their languages from December onwards.
"After December, I will have written correspondence with citizens, CMs, ministers and MPs in their own language," Amit Shah said in Rajya Sabha. "This is a strong reply to those who run their shops in the name of language to hide their corruption," he added.
Amit Shah said that there have been enough divisions in the nation over language, and this should not happen anymore.
“What are they saying? That we oppose languages of the south? How can this be possible?... I come from Gujarat, Nirmala Sitharanan from Tamil Nadu. How can we oppose this?” Shah was quoted as saying by ANI.
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He added that every Indian language is a treasure for the country and that Hindi is not in competition with other languages.
“I have said this again and again, Hindi has no competition with any other Indian language. Hindi is a friend of all Indian languages…” Shah said, according to ANI.
Amit Shah's remarks come amid a tussle between the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government over the implementation of the new National Education Policy and the three-language formula proposed under it.
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The ruling DMK has been accusing the BJP-led union government of 'imposing' Hindi on the southern state through the National Education Policy, a charge denied by the latter.
The TN government has said it will not move away from its decades-old two-language formula, which includes Tamil and English.
On its part, the BJP government has maintained that the three languages to be learned by school-going children under the National Education Policy will be chosen by states, regions and students and no language will be imposed on any state.
"There will be greater flexibility in the three-language formula, and no language will be imposed on any state," Union Minister of state for Education Sukanta Majumdar informed Parliament on Wednesday.
