Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Hindi makes a comeback in Tamil Nadu

Saswat Panigrahi

In a major turnaround of sorts in Tamil Nadu against the clampdown on Hindi, there is now a growing demand for compulsory learning of Hindi in State Board schools.
A large group of parents along with a number of State Board schools have moved court challenging a 2006 Tamil Nadu Government order which compels children to learn Tamil as a language until class X.
Those in the know of Tamil Nadu’s political history must recall how the State witnessed anti-Hindi movements both before and after independence.
Let us first revisit the pre-independence days in Tamil Nadu. In 1938, C Rajagopalachari, as the premier of Madras presidency had issued a Government order to make the teaching of Hindi compulsory in secondary schools. The move was vociferously opposed by the anti-Hindi lobby led by EV Ramasamy (Periyar as he is popularly known) and sparked State-wide protests.

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