NEW DELHI: Political parties in Tamil Nadu including the DMK on Saturday strongly opposed the three-language formula proposed in the draft National Education Policy alleging it was tantamount to "thrusting" Hindi and wanted it junked.

The draft policy, which makes Hindi a compulsory language in non-Hindi speaking states, was prepared by a panel led by eminent scientist K Kasturirangan and was unveiled on Friday.

The issue took Twitter by storm with hashtags like #StopHindiImposition and #TNagainstHindiimposition being tweeted more than 1.5 lakh times. The hashtags were trending in top two slots nationally.

The three-language formula which bats for Hindi from "pre-school to class 12 is a big shocker," and the recommendation would "divide" the country, DMK chief MK Stalin said.

"In Tamil Nadu, having a two-language policy, is like honeycomb and BJP is trying to throw a stone at it by inflicting a three-language policy again. I warn the Centre that there will be a disaster if it tries to implement the three-language formula in Tamil Nadu. There are a few good things in the new education policy but all those will be forgotten if the language policy is implemented,” Stalin said in a statement.

He said the newly elected MPs of the party will take up the issue in the Lok Sabha soon after it is convened and will not deter until it is recalled.

He urged the chief minister to oppose the policy. “Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, instead of bowing to the NDA government, must oppose the new education policy publicly,” said Stalin.

However, dismissing the fear of Hindi imposition, HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said the committee has submitted its report to the ministry, it's not the policy. "Public feedback will be sought, there is a misunderstanding that it has become a policy. No language will be imposed on any state," the Union minister said.

I&B minister Prakash Javadekar added that there was no intention of imposing any language on anybody. "We want to promote all Indian languages. It's a draft prepared by committee, which will be decided by the government after getting public feedback," he added.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief K S Alagiri said the Centre must not force any student to study Hindi or any other language. “The government must not interfere and force students to learn any language. Students must make their own choice,” said Alagiri.

MDMK chief Vaiko also warned that a language war will break out if any attempt is made to impose any language in Tamil Nadu while rebel AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran said any such proposal would destroy Indian's pluralism and make Tamils second class citizens.

Reacting to the draft policy, actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder Kamal Haasan said, “I have acted in many Hindi films. However, in my opinion, Hindi should not be imposed on anyone. Be it language or a project, if we do not like that, it should not be forced on us." He said his party would pursue legal options against it.

The CPI, CPM as well as BJP’s ally PMK opposed the new education policy for the compulsory three-language clause.

The draft National Education Policy, 2019, available on the government website said the three-language formula will need to be implemented in its spirit throughout the country, promoting multilingual communicative abilities for a multilingual country.

Schools in Hindi speaking areas should also offer and teach Indian languages from other parts of India, it said.

The three language formula, followed since the adoption of the National Policy on Education 1968 and endorsed in subsequent years will be continued.

Since research now clearly showed that children picked up languages quickly between the ages of 2 and 8, and moreover that multilingualism has great cognitive benefits to students, children will now be immersed in three languages early on, starting from the foundational stage onwards, it said.

The draft policy said India also has "an extremely rich literature in other classical languages, including classical Tamil, as well as classical Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam , and Odia, in addition to Pali, Persian, and Prakrit; these classical languages and their literatures too must be preserved for their richness and for the pleasure and enrichment of posterity."

