Regional languages will die if three-language policy is adopted: Senior Cong leader Peter Alphonse

Senior Congress leader Peter Alphonse on Sunday said that the regional languages in most of the non-Hindi speaking states will "die" if the three-language formula is implemented by the Central government.

Talking to ANI, Alphonse said: "The new draft for national education policy recommends mandatory education of Hindi in all schools. The people of Tamil Nadu view it as an attempt to impose Hindi on those who are non-Hindi speaking. We have been fighting this since 1930s. We think that this three-language formula will virtually kill the Tamil language at one point of time."

Referring to Union Minister Prakash Javadekar's statement that there is no attempt to impose Hindi as this is only the draft policy, Alphonse said: "But he has conveniently forgotten one aspect that already in most of Central government departments and PSUs, they prescribe working knowledge of Hindi as a basic fundamental qualification for jobs, which is an indirect imposition of Hindi."

"At one point of time, only Hindi and English speaking people will get jobs. So naturally, all the other languages will die. What I feel is that through this they are indirectly trying to impose the agenda of BJP," he added.

The Congress leader said that the Central government does not want "other regional languages to survive as the BJP has always said that they want one country, one culture, one religion, and one language. So, they don't want other regional languages to survive."

"The BJP wants to make the entire country as a Hindi speaking country. We know that the danger is waiting for the Tamil language. If they try to impose Hindi, then the entire Tamil Nadu will stand up and fight. We will not allow Hindi to enter Tamil Nadu. We will never support three-language policy," he said.