‘No Language Will Be Imposed’: Nirmala, Jaishankar Tweet in Tamil

Nirmala Sitharaman and Jaishankar’s clarification came after outrage over a draft education policy.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Following an outrage in Tamil Nadu over a draft education policy favouring teaching Hindi in non-Hindi-speaking states, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday, 2 June, said that the state governments will be consulted before a final decision is taken on the issue.

Jaishankar's response came after a Twitter user posted a query to him on the issue.

"The National Education Policy as submitted to the Minister HRD is only a draft report. Feedback shall be obtained from general public. State Governments will be consulted. Only after this the draft report will be finalised. GoI respects all languages. No language will be imposed," Jaishankar tweeted.

Sitharaman Assures Tamil Nadu

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too, posted an identical message on Twitter, assuring that the draft will be reviewed before implementation. Both ministers, who hail from Tamil Nadu, posted their tweets in their native tongue.

Sitharaman said that the prime minister’s aim is to work for the development of all Indian languages.

The draft national education policy recommends a range of reforms and favoured teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states.

The recommendations relating to teaching of Hindi drew sharp reactions from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam.

Former HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, who is now minister for information and broadcasting in the second Modi government, on Saturday, 1 June said that a committee had prepared a draft report on the education policy and that no decision has been taken on implementing it.