Activists blacken Hindi in TN railway station signboard amid language row
The DMK alleged that Tamil Nadu was being asked to implement NEP and the 3-language policy involving Hindi in return for its due share of central funds
Amid the language row in Tamil Nadu where the ruling DMK has been alleging Hindi imposition by the Centre under the garb of New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, pro-Tamil activists blackened the Hindi words painted in the signboard at the Pollachi railway station on Sunday (February 23).
In a viral video, the activists were seen painting black paint on “Pollachi Junction” written in Hindi, but officials later rectified it.
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Culprits identified
“RPF Pollachi identified the perpetrators and registered a case under relevant provisions of the Railways Act and they will be prosecuted. The same was rectified immediately,” the Palghat Division of the Southern Railway said in a social media update.
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu has been engaged in a war of words with the BJP and the party-led Central government, alleging Hindi imposition through the National Education Policy (NEP 2020), a charge denied by the Centre.
Confrontation intensifies
The language row involving the BJP-led Centre and the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu intensified over the last few days with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan asking the southern state to rise above politics, while the regional party hit back saying it won't budge from its 2-language policy and warned against “throwing stones at beehive.”
Pradhan attacked Chief Minister MK Stalin over the implementation of National Education Policy in TN and accused him of “spinning progressive reforms into threats to sustain political narratives”.
The DMK indicated Tamil Nadu was being asked to implement NEP and the 3-language policy involving Hindi in return for its due share of central funds. Stalin, also DMK president, said he will not permit any activities inimical to Tamil language, the state and its people, on the soil, so long as he and his DMK existed.
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Who is doing politics?
Stalin said Pradhan has replied to the state's plea for Rs 2,152 crore funds for the education department by asking Tamil Nadu not to do politics in education.
“Who is doing politics in education - you or us? Is the blackmail that fund release only if the trilingual policy was accepted, not politics? Is imposing Hindi in the name of NEP, not politics? Is converting a multi-lingual and plural country into a single-language country and one nation, not politics? Is not converting the funds meant for a scheme as a ‘condition’ for implementing another scheme, not politics,” he asked.