Amit Shah bats for medical education in Tamil, ‘one of the oldest languages’

Stating that the Tamil language and grammar are one of the oldest in the world, central Home Minster Amit Shah has urged the Tamil Nadu government to provide medical and technical education in the language.

Incidentally, state Health Minister Ma Subramanian said earlier this month that MBBS in Tamil may be introduced in the new medical college to be inaugurated in Chennai soon.

Addressing the platinum jubilee celebrations of India Cements in Chennai on Saturday, Shah added that popularising Tamil language and grammar was the responsibility of the entire country. Shah’s comments are significant considering the raging controversy on “Hindi imposition” sparked by his recommendations to the President as the head of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language.

“Tamil is one of the oldest languages in the world. Its grammar is also one of the oldest. I request the Tamil Nadu government to provide medical and technical education in the Tamil language so that Tamil-medium students can benefit and conduct research and development in their mother tongue,” Shah said. He added that the step, if taken, would “serve the language in a big way.”

Also read: Learn mother tongue, language will only aid in growth: CJI Ramana

Protests against ‘Hindi-imposition’

Last month, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that Shah’s recommendations to President Droupadi Murmu were against the democratic principles of the country. Particularly one recommendation, which said youngsters would get jobs only if they learnt Hindi, miffed many.

“The rigorous thrust by Union BJP government for #HindiImposition, negating the diversity of India is happening at an alarming pace. The proposals made in the 11th volume of the report of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language are a direct onslaught on India’s soul,” Stalin tweeted on October 10. The letter came a few days after that.

“Imposing Hindi is against the integrity of India. The BJP government would do well to learn lessons from the anti-Hindi agitations in the past,” Stalin said.

However, Shah has already tried to soothe frayed nerves by saying that a “disinformation campaign” was on to pit Hindi against native languages. “Some people are spreading disinformation that Hindi and Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil, Hindi and Marathi are competitors. Hindi cannot be a competitor to any other language in the country. You must understand that Hindi is the friend of all the languages of the country,” Shah said in September.

“Unless we accept the co-existence of languages, we cannot realise the dream of running the country in our own language. And I want to say with sincerity that it should be our aim to keep all the languages and mother tongues alive and prosperous. Only with the prosperity of all these languages will Hindi prosper,” Shah added.

Also read: Prominent South Indian leaders oppose Amit Shah’s Hindi remark

The Draft New Educational Policy 2019 had also created an uproar after a clause recommended mandatory Hindi teaching in all schools. All Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu had blasted the recommendations, and even the BJP’s ally AIADMK had refused to dilute the state’s two-language (Tamil and English) policy.

Apart from the southern states, protests were held in West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. The widespread protests finally prompted the Human Resource Development Ministry to upload the revised draft.

(With agency inputs)