What Harm Will Learning Hindi Do: Madras HC To Tamil Nadu Government

The Court made the observation while hearing a PIL writ petition to implement National Education policy 2020 in Tamil Nadu

Madras High Court | Credit: ABP Nadu

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Monday questioned the Tamil Nadu government "what harm would learning Hindi do?". The HC further said that many people have lost central government job opportunities without knowing Hindi. 

The court made the observation while hearing a PIL writ petition to implement National Education Policy 2020 in Tamil Nadu. 

The case came up for hearing before the first bench of acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice PD Audikesavalu on Tuesday. 

The advocate-general for Tamil Nadu on behalf of the government said, the state has been following a two-language policy and not a three-language policy since it would overburden the students. Also, no one in the state is stopped from learning Hindi and institutions like Prachar Sabha teach Hindi, he said. 

However, the Court replied that learning is different from teaching. 

The bench then admitted the plea of Arjunan Elayaraja of Cuddalore and told the government to respond in four weeks to the petition. 

In the petition, the petitioner said that learning mother tongue alone would not be helpful and language has to go hand in hand with other Indian languages. 

He also said that individuals should shudder thinking about the consequences of such a decision if every state decides like Tamil Nadu.

He claimed that by considering the constitutional mandate and the judgments of SC the state should make Hindi compulsory. Maybe Sanskrit can be optional, he added.