south

Updated: Aug 16, 2019 01:27 IST

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday said that his government is steadfast in its opposition to the imposition of Hindi and would never compromise on the two-language formula of Tamil and English.

“I assert that the AIADMK government would oppose any scheme or project that is seen as detrimental to the people of Tamil Nadu and would remain at the forefront of protecting the interests of the people,” Palaniswami, popularly known as EPS, said after hoisting the Tricolour at the ramparts of Fort St George, the seat of power in the state.

The CM’s remark comes more than a month after the Centre withdrew a controversial clause in the Draft New Education Policy, recommending teaching of Hindi mandatory in non-Hindi speaking states.

EPS recalled that right from the days of late Chief Minister and Dravidian stalwart C N Annadurai in the 1960s, Tamil Nadu has been following the two-language formula, and made it clear that the state would never stray away from that policy.

“Annadurai had brought a resolution in the state assembly in 1968, dispensing with Hindi in the curriculum. It was passed and since then, we have been following the two-language policy of mother tongue Tamil and English. Reaffirming it, AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran ensured the passage of a similar resolution. Jayalalithaa too had resolutely opposed imposition of Hindi as a third language,” EPS said in his Independence Day speech.

Tamil Nadu had witnessed anti-Hindi agitations as early as 1938 and then in 1965. Both the Dravidian parties, AIADMK and DMK, have been a strong votary of the two language policy and Tamil Nadu remains the only state in the country which has not allowed setting up of the centrally-sponsored Navodaya Vidyalalas, to keep Hindi at bay.

Vellore trifurcated

EPS also announced the trifurcation of the large Vellore district into three. Two new districts with Ranipet and Tirupattur as headquarters respectively will be carved out from Vellore and K V Kuppam in Vellore district will be upgraded into a new taluk, he said.

Vellore will continue to function as a separate district. EPS had recently announced new districts of Chengelpet and Tenkasi, and with the two new districts, Tamil Nadu is set to have a total of 37 districts.

Splitting Vellore has been a pet demand of the other backward class (OBC) Vanniyar-dominated Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), an ally of the AIADMK.

The DMK won the Vellore Lok Sabha seat last week as the election in the constituency was cancelled earlier this year because of reports of corruption.