By Vikas Pathak
At a time of increasing acrimony between the BJP-led Centre and Tamil Nadu over the three-language formula, the RSS has carefully manoeuvred around the dispute, advocating the use of a person’s mother tongue, the regional language where the person resides, and a career language that could be English or another language.
However, in a tacit attack on the DMK, the Sangh at the first press conference of the three-day Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), which started in Bengaluru on Friday morning, expressed concern about “forces” that “are challenging national unity, especially by raising the North-South divide, whether it is about delimitation or languages”.
Asked about delimitation, RSS leader C R Mukunda said it was a government decision and that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had made it clear southern states would not lose out in the exercise. “If some southern state is having some number of Lok Sabha seats out of 543, that ratio will be held as it is.”
He added, “But other than this, there are many things that are mostly politically motivated, like having the rupee symbol in the local language. These things have to be addressed by social leaders and groups. It is not good for the country to quarrel among ourselves. It should be resolved harmoniously.”
While advocating that people should know at least three languages, the Sangh chose not to wade directly into a debate over what language formula the National Education Policy should adopt. While the Union government is insistent on a three-language formula without an emphasis on Hindi, the DMK has been pushing for a two-language formula, alleging that the three-language formula is aimed at imposing Hindi.
Mukunda said, “Mother tongue should be used for all our daily things. The RSS has not passed any resolution on what should be the three-language or two-language system, but on mother tongue, we passed a resolution earlier.”
Mukunda added, “Not just in the school system but in society too, we have to learn multiple languages. One is our mother tongue, the other should be the regional language or the market language where we live. If I live in Tamil Nadu, I have to learn Tamil. If I live in Delhi, I must learn Hindi because I have to converse with the local people in the market. For some people, career language is also needed. If it is English, he or she must also learn that for his or her career. So, career language is there, regional language is there, and the mother tongue, on which the RSS always stresses.”
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
