The Hindi language has been a topic of discussion in southern India, especially Tamil Nadu. Recently, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin, asked the Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, to remove the requirement of knowing Hindi for non-teaching job positions in National Institutes of Technology.
Mr. Stalin posted on a social media platform called X, expressing his concerns about including a Hindi test by the National Testing Agency in a common exam for filling non-teaching positions in nine NITs. He believed that this move undermined fairness in language representation and ignored diversity. He said that imposing Hindi as a requirement deprived young people from Tamil Nadu and other states that don't speak Hindi.
Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan from the Communist Party of India wrote a letter to Mr. Pradhan questioning the need for mandatory Hindi knowledge and asking him to reconsider.
The National Testing Agency recently announced a common recruitment exam for non-teaching roles in nine NITs. The exam syllabus included testing English and Hindi. The syllabus mentioned that candidates would be tested on their understanding of English and Hindi, including vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, synonyms, antonyms, and correct usage.
According to Mr. Venkatesan, the importance given to the ""Test of English and Hindi"" was 20% for some cadres and 30% for others. He believed that this heavy emphasis could disadvantage candidates from non Hindi-speaking states while benefiting those from Hindi-speaking states.
This isn't the first time Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has spoken out about the Hindi language. On August 5th, he criticized Union Home Minister Amit Shah's call for greater acceptance of Hindi. Stalin emphasized that Tamil Nadu would not be dominated by Hindi and rejected any form of imposition. He also reminded Shah about the opposition to Hindi in states like Karnataka and West Bengal and warned against causing similar conflicts.
During the meeting, Shah stressed that Hindi should be embraced without hesitation, even if this happens gradually. He clarified that Hindi isn't in competition with other languages and supported the idea of promoting all Indian languages to strengthen the country.
Responding to Shah's comments, CM Stalin posted on Twitter, ""I strongly criticize Union Home Minister @AmitShah's bold push for Hindi acceptance. It's a clear attempt to control those who don't speak Hindi. Tamil Nadu opposes any dominance or imposition of Hindi. Our language and heritage shape our identity – we won't be controlled by Hindi!""
Stalin also asked Shah to think about the strong opposition to enforcing Hindi in states like Karnataka and West Bengal. He reminded the Home Minister of the historic ""1965 Anti-Hindi Imposition Agitations"" and warned him against inciting similar feelings.

#MKStalin #AmitShah #HindiLanguage #TamilNadu #NationalLanguage #DMK #PMModi #TamilLanguage #Madurai #RahulGandhi #HWNews #TMC #MamataBanerjee