'Imposing Or Opposing A Language Blindly Won't Help': Pawan Kalyan Amid Escalating Row Over Hindi

Amaravati: Amid the ongoing row over the 'imposition' of Hindi, Jana Sena Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on Saturday asserted that his party would firmly stand by the principle of linguistic choice for every Indian.

In an oblique reference to the DMK stance, Pawan Kalyan said that when the NEP 2020 itself does not enforce Hindi, spreading false narratives about its imposition is nothing but an attempt to mislead the public.

In a post on X, the Jana Sena chief said, "Either imposing a language forcibly or opposing a language blindly; both don’t help to achieve the objective of National &Cultural integration of our Bharat. I had never opposed Hindi as a language. I only opposed making it compulsory. When the NEP 2020 itself does not enforce Hindi, spreading false narratives about its imposition is nothing but an attempt to mislead the public."

He said as per NEP 2020, students have the flexibility to learn any two Indian languages (including their mother tongue) along with a foreign language. "If they do not wish to study Hindi, they can and also opt for Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Assamese, Kashmiri, Odia, Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Bodo, Dogri, Konkani, Maithili, Meitei, Nepali, Santali, Urdu, or any other Indian language," he said.

Pawan Kalyan further said that the multi-language policy is designed to empower students with choice, promote national unity, and preserve India's rich linguistic diversity. Misinterpreting this policy for political agendas and claiming that he changed his stance only reflects a lack of understanding, he said. The Jana Sena Party firmly stands by the principle of linguistic freedom and educational choice for every Indian, he said.