The Voice of the People Party (VPP), a political party based in Meghalaya, on April 11 said the move of the BJP-led NDA government to make Hindi compulsory in the schools up to class 10 is an attempt to convert India into a country where there will be one culture, one language and one religion.
“This is an attempt by the present BJP-led NDA government to convert India into a country where there will be one culture, one language and one religion. This is also the aim and objective of the RSS to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra,” VPP chief Ardent M Basaiawmoit said in a statement.
Stating that this “imposition of Hindi” is not acceptable, Basaiawmoit said that Hindi is a very difficult subject to learn for non-Hindi speakers, and this will put unnecessary pressure on the students.
He said in Meghalaya, English is the official language and the medium of instruction in schools and colleges, adding: “Therefore making Hindi mandatory in schools will be a burden for the school children.”
Asserting that Hindi should be the third language and not compulsory, the VPP president said that the Constitution of India has made it very clear that Hindi and English are the official languages of the country.
He further observed that the statement of the Union home minister and the decision of the chief ministers of the Northeast states amounts to imposition of the language on the non-Hindi speaking population of the Northeast.
Warning that such a move would also endanger the identity of the indigenous people, Basaiawmoit said that the VPP feels that instead of imposing Hindi on the people of the state, the Government of India should expedite the inclusion of the Khasi language in the Eighth Scheduled of the Constitution.
