Mind their language: The State should abstain from imposing choices

The policy, being implemented in phases, stipulates that students learn at least three languages

The three-language policy, under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, has sparked an avoidable controversy that local politicians are exploiting. The latest debate has been simmering for at least a year and reveals that no political party is free of language chauvinism. Significantly, the controversy has roiled India’s more industrialised states — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra (where residents are being harassed for not being able to speak the local language) — principally over fears over the imposition of Hindi. From blue- to white-collar, all three states have been recipients and beneficiaries of large cohorts of migrant workers from India’s