Modi Wants More Indians to Speak Hindi. Some States Are Shouting ‘No.’
Modi Wants More Indians to Speak Hindi. Some States Are Shouting ‘No.’
nytimes.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/43848231
States worry that the imposition of Hindi, the main language of northern India, would wipe out their cultural heritage.
Late last month, the government of Maharashtra, a state in western India governed by Mr. Modi’s party, was forced to retract a policy requiring that Hindi be taught in elementary schools. Opposition politicians, residents and others had called the policy an affront to Marathi, the region’s native language.
In Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state with a history of rioting over efforts to make Hindi mandatory, the chief minister has raged for months against an education policy pushed by the Modi government, claiming that it is trying to force students to learn the language. Tamil Nadu sued the central government in May after it said that it would withhold education funds until the state implemented the policy.