'Will oppose Hindi imposition': Amit Shah's remarks draw flak in Assam

Opposition political parties and several students' organisations in Assam vowed to oppose any move to "impose" teaching of Hindi, a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated that states in the Northeast agreed to make Hindi compulsory till class X.

"This is unacceptable and is a contradiction to the New Education Policy introduced by the BJP-led government, which seeks to support primary education in the mother tongue," Congress leader and leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia said Saturday.

"BJP is trying to impose Hindi on the non-Hindi speaking people including those in the Northeast to appease voters in the Hindi belt," Saikia said.

Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee on Friday in New Delhi, Shah stressed that people from different regions should speak in Hindi and not English. He stated that CMs in the northeast also agreed to make Hindi compulsory till class XI and that 22,000 Hindi teachers have been recruited in the northeast recently to support the teaching of Hindi in the region.

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"This is nothing but BJP and RSS's policy to impose their ideology and the language it thinks should be taught. Assam will in no way allow Hindi to be taught compulsorily," Opposition MLA Akhil Gogoi said. "Instead, people speaking diverse languages in Assam and rest of the northeast should be supported for protection and promotion of their mother tongues," he said. "We will oppose any move to impose Hindi," he said.

Lurinjyoti Gogoi, leader of opposition party Asom Jatiya Parishad, which was formed during the anti-CAA agitation, said Shah's statement signified the BJP-led government's "dictatorial attitude". "This is unfortunate when several Census reports have stated that Assamese and other ethnic languages are in crisis. This contradicts BJP's claim that they care more for the people of the northeast, their feelings and their culture," Gogoi said.

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Assam education minister Ronoj Pegu on Saturday morning sought to support Hindi teaching terming it a required "language skill" for youths in Assam to get jobs in Hindi-speaking regions of the country.

Hours later, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma clarified that there was no such directive from the Centre to make Hindi a compulsory subject. "Our youths should learn Hindi and English for getting jobs outside. But there is no directive from the Centre to make Hindi compulsory. Assam government is working with Asam Sahita Sabha to finalise a language policy where Assamese and other local languages would get prominence. But at the same time, we also want our youths to learn English and Hindi," he said.