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Pawan Kalyan clarified his stance on the ongoing NEP and “Hindi imposition” row and said that he has never opposed Hindi as a language.
Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan (PTI Image)
Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Janasena Party chief Pawan Kalyan on Saturday clarified his stance on the “Hindi imposition” row amid criticism over “changing” his earlier stand against making the language compulsory.
Kalyan backed the NDA ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the ongoing controversy around the National Education Policy (NEP) in Tamil Nadu, which accused the Centre of attempting to “impose” Hindi on the southern state.
Earlier, the Jana Sena Party chief also criticised the Tamil politicians for opposing Hindi while allowing their movies to be dubbed into Hindi for financial gains. His remarks came under sharp criticism, including from actor Prakash Raj who rebutted Kalyan in the ongoing row.
Pawan Kalyan In The Eye Of Storm
The Andhra Deputy Chief Minister found himself in the eye of a political storm as he defended the BJP over the three-language mandate policy in the NEP.
Hitting back at the critiques, Kalyan saud that he never opposed Hindi as a language and only was opposed to making it compulsory.
“Either imposing a language forcibly or opposing a language blindly; both doesn’t help to achieve the objective of National &Cultural integration of our Bharat. I had never opposed Hindi as a language. I only opposed making it compulsory. When the NEP 2020 itself does not enforce Hindi, spreading false narratives about its imposition is nothing but an attempt to mislead the public,” he said in a long X post.
Further explaining the NEP, Kalyan said that the students have the flexibility to learn any two Indian languages, which also includes their mother tongue, besides a foreign language.
“If they do not wish to study Hindi, they can and also opt for Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Assamese, Kashmiri, Odia, Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Bodo, Dogri, Konkani, Maithili, Meitei, Nepali, Santali, Urdu, or any other Indian language,” he said.
“The multi-language policy is designed to empower students with choice, promote national unity, and preserve India’s rich linguistic diversity. Misinterpreting this policy for political agendas and claiming that @PawanKalyan changed his stance only reflects a lack of understanding,” Kalyan added.
Kalyan said that his party firmly stands by the “principle of linguistic freedom and educational choice for every Indian”.
- Location :
Andhra Pradesh, India, India
