Close to 10,000 tweets with the hashtag #TNStudnetsWantsNEP flooded Twitter on Tuesday as netizens reacted to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami's statement a day ago where he said that the state would never ever allow the three language policy detailed in the National Education Policy (NEP) and would continue to follow only the two language policy. The new National Education Policy released last week has stressed on the three language policy, which has been criticised by TN parties accusing it of imposing Hindi and Sanskrit.
On the contrary, netizens have been trending the, albeit grammatically wrong, hashtag on Twitter in favour of the policy. While some even have pointed out that a lot of Tamil people and residents of Pondicherry often know four languages, including Hindi. Some have said that we should let our children explore new languages, while a few said that it should be up to the discretion of parents whether they want their school-going children to follow the three-language policy.
Netizens have not only expressed their displeasure on CM Palaniswami's statement but also about the statement of DMK President M K Stalin who had earlier questioned if the state government had decided to sacrifice the two-language policy introduced by C N Annadurai because the present leaders were afraid of losing their power. Stalin had also accused the party in power of being silent on the topic.
However, the AIADMK government led by Palaniswami said on Monday, "The people of Tamil Nadu and most of the political parties including the AIADMK wish that only two-language policy should be in force in the State. As such, it is saddening to note that the NEP has stressed three-language policy." "Though the NEP has three language policy, the AIADMK government will never ever allow this in Tamil Nadu. Instead, it will continue to adhere to the two-language policy. The Centre should accept the overall view of the people of Tamil Nadu in this regard and should reconsider its stand on the three-language policy. I appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the States to implement their own language policy according to their views," he added.
