Mumbai, April 22 In a strongly worded response to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that before seeking clarifications from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he needs a deep understanding of the National Education Policy (NEP).
He further asked Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to study what exactly NEP is by attaching the necessary link.
“Before seeking clarifications from Hon PM Narendra Modi ji, you need a deep understanding of the National Education Policy. First you need to study what exactly NEP is! Here is link for your ref - https://education.gov.in/national-education-policy,” Fadnavis wrote on X.
He further added that the NEP never insisted or made compulsory language choice but only asks to study any two Indian languages other than English, out of three.
“As far as Maharashtra is concerned, we are open to Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Sanskrit or any language of the student’s choice which they wish to study as the third language. The main question is why you are not open to multi-lingualism and have a problem if someone wants to study in Hindi,” Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis was responding to Stalin’s post on X uploaded on Monday in which he said: “Facing a massive backlash for imposing Hindi as the third language, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis now claims that only Marathi is compulsory in the state. This is a clear manifestation of his trepidation over the widespread public condemnation against the imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states.”
He further said that PM Modi and the Union Education Minister must clarify. “Does the Union government officially endorse his position that no language other than Marathi is compulsory in Maharashtra as the third language under the National Education Policy? If so, will the Union government issue a clear directive to all states affirming that the NEP does not require the compulsory teaching of a third language? Will the Union government release the Rs. 2,152 crore it unjustly withheld for Tamil Nadu on the premise that the state must subscribe to the teaching of a mandatory third language?”
Fadnavis’ response came hours after the Maharashtra Education Minister Dadaji Bhuse, amid raging controversy, said for now Hindi will not be made a compulsory third language in classes 1 to 5 in English and Marathi schools, but it will be optional.
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