'Hindi imposition nothing but an assault on our states': Siddaramaiah rages against the Centre's 3-language formula in National Education Policy 2019 draft

Joining ranks with the recent protests over teaching Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states as proposed in the draft National Education Policy 2019, former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called it a 'brutal assault' on the non-Hindi speaking states.

In a series of tweets, the Congress leader said that the National Education Policy draft imposes Hindi in non-Hindi states and that it goes against the sentiments. He also added that instead of imposing Hindi, the government should focus on recognising regional identities & give more space to the states to express.

Meanwhile, the newly elected South Bengaluru BJP MP Tejaswi Surya said that the facts of National Education Policy 2019 have been twisted. He added that current draft of the NEP merely says that the 3-language formula can be continued in schools. He added that the NEP doesn't impose, rather encourages, learning Hindi as a language in school. In a series of tweets about the NEP, he added:  "It's sad that a few people with vested interests have created a 'Hindi Imposition' sentiment despite these facts being in the public domain."

READ: 'Don't Enforce It And Incite Us': Raj Thackeray's MNS Against Enforcement Of Hindi Asserting 'it Is Not Their Mother Tongue'

As the controversy snowballed, the Centre dismissed apprehensions on the issue and said there was no move to impose any language on anyone.

"Only a report has been submitted on the new education policy. Government has not taken any decision on it. It has not even considered it and therefore the misunderstanding that the government has decided on the new education policy is not true," Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told the media.

"After we will get the public feedback, then only it will come up before the government. More importantly, the Modi government has always promoted all Indian languages and therefore there is no case of or intention of imposing any language on anybody. We want to promote all Indian languages," he said.

The draft of New Education Policy prepared by the Kasturirangan Committee was released on Friday, which spoke of the continuation of three-language formula in the schools.

READ: 'No Intention Of Imposing Hindi': Government Clarifies On Three-language Proposal For Schools, Says It's 'only A Draft'

Minister of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal stated that there is 'no intention' to impose any language on people and that the government wants to promote 'all Indian languages'

He said, "There is no intention of imposing any language on anybody, we want to promote all Indian languages. It's a draft prepared by the committee, which will be decided by govt after getting public feedback."