Centre should not impose Hindi, says Telangana minister

Telangana’s IT, Industries Minister K T Rama Rao has joined the chorus against the “Hindi imposition attempt” in the technical and non-technical educational institutions including the prestigious IITs.

The minister was reacting to the Parliamentary committee on Official language, headed by Home Minister Amit Shah, which has reportedly recommended that medium of instruction in higher educational institutions like the IITs, central universities be in Hindi in Hindi speaking states.

Students from across the country, especially many from the two Telugu and other southern states, study in the IITs. Several of these Indian Institutes of Technology are located in the Hindi heartland.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has already lodged his strong protest, opposing the move. Stalin called the proposals made in the 11th volume of the committee “a direct onslaught on India’s soul”.

KTR, who is also the working president of the TRS now being rechristened as Bharat Rashtra Samithi, said that “India does not have a national language and Hindi is one among the many official languages”.

“To impose Hindi by way of mandating in the IITs and central government recruitment, the NDA government is flouting the federal spirit,” KTR said in a tweet.

‘Indians should have a choice of language and we say No to Hindi imposition,” he said.

KTR took his protest further and shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. Terming the recommendation as unconstitutional, the minister demanded the PM to withdraw it.

KTR said that “the unconstitutional recommendation” would have a far reaching disastrous impact on the future of current and future generations, “the division it could draw between various parts of India”.

“There is a huge non-Hindi speaking population in India, and the central government’s move to make Hindi mandatory will lead to socio-economic divisions in our country,” KTR said. “In this highly competitive globalised world, the recommendation of the committee could take us backwards in terms of the nation’s development.”