Udhayanidhi Stalin backs Tamil Nadu's two-language stand on Navodaya schools

Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin has welcomed the Tamil Nadu government's decision to uphold the State's established two-language policy and to disallow Navodaya schools within its territory.

In a statement issued on Friday, he asked the State government to keep pressing its case strongly in the Supreme Court, where the matter is currently being heard. He also proposed that a special session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly be convened, if necessary, to pass a resolution restating the State's position.

Mr. Udhayanidhi stressed that the State was not opposed to any language, Hindi included. Permitting each State to follow the language policy of its choice, he said, would only reinforce national unity.

Drawing on instances of national hardship, he noted that Tamils had shown patriotism on par with people from other States during the Indo-China War, the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Kargil conflict and the Gujarat earthquake. He argued that opposing the imposition of Hindi should not be read as a desire to function as a separate country, and that there was no link between learning Hindi and patriotism.

He further pointed out that Tamil Nadu, which follows the two-language policy, leads the country in several areas, including higher education enrolment and women's participation in the workforce. From producing Nobel laureates to supplying leading scientists to ISRO, Tamils had distinguished themselves without knowledge of Hindi, he said.

According to Mr. Udhayanidhi, the State had not suffered any setback on account of its people not knowing Hindi. Instead, it had achieved better development than other States and served as a growth engine for India, he added.