Hindi signboard at Tamil Nadu railway station blackened amid NEP row

The DMK alleged that the BJP-led Centre’s 3-language formula in the National Education Policy is a form of Hind imposition.

On Sunday, news agency PTI reported that a group of pro-Tamil activists blackened the Hindi-written name on a signboard in the Pollachi railway station in Tamil Nadu. The DMK-ruled state has been at loggerheads with the Centre, and it has alleged that the BJP-led Centre’s 3-language formula in the National Education Policy is a form of Hind imposition.

DMK alleges that imposition of Hindi happened under the garb of National Education Policy 2020 (NEP).

In Pollachi in Tamil Nadu, pro-Tamil activists painted black paint on the word “Pollachi Junction” written in Hindi. A viral video of the same shows a group of men applying black paint on the Hindi name while an RPF personnel confronted them and pointed out the lack of permission for their act. However, the defaced name of the station in Hindi was later restored, clarified officials from the Southern Railway’s Palakkad Division. In a social media update, the Palghat Division of the Southern Railway said, “RPF Pollachi identified the defaulters and registered a case under relevant provisions of the Railways Act, and they will be prosecuted. The same was rectified immediately.”

Hindi imposition controversy.

The DMK alleged that the Centre denied funds to the school education department unless the government implemented the National Education Policy. The 3-language formula in the new policy, according to the DMK, is antithetical to the interests of the state and social justice. TKS Elangovan, a DMK spokesperson, accused the Centre of imposing religious ideas on the education system through the NEP. He said, “First, the policy should be implemented in BJP-ruled states and improve their standards. The purpose of this policy is to impose religious ideas on the education system, which we will never allow, and we will never allow Hindi.”

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan dismissed the state’s concerns as “imaginary” and said, “One point I want to re-emphasise is that the NEP is not recommending the imposition of any language on the respective students of a state. That means, in no way the NEP is recommending imposition of Hindi in Tamil Nadu.”