UGC proposal to 'impose' hindi in undergraduate courses can disrupt India's linguistic unity, says CPI(M)

New Delhi: The efforts of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to “push” Hindi as a compulsory subject in undergraduate courses will stir up a hornets’ nest among other linguistic groups and affect the unity of the country, the CPI(M) said.

Following representations to make Hindi compulsory, the UGC in July last year had written to universities to explore the feasibility of inclusion of the language in their undergraduate programmes. Demanding that the UGC withdraw the “circular”, the Left party said even previous attempts to “impose” Hindi were thwarted.

“The politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is deeply concerned at the effort by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to push Hindi as a compulsory subject in all undergraduate courses across India,” read a statement issued by the Left party. It is “strange” that a circular in this regard has been issued in the background of the widespread protest in the country against the imposition of Hindi as part of the draft National Education Policy-2019 earlier, it said.

The protests had forced the government to beat a hasty retreat, the CPI(M) politburo said in the statement. “The central government issued a clarification to settle the controversy for now. Therefore, the UGC cannot push this agenda, independently. India is a country of great diversity in language and culture. This attempt, without a proper process by a statutory body, to impose one particular national language is only going to stir up a hornets’ nest among other linguistic groups,” it said.

“The unity of our people based on the rich diversity in language and culture will only be disrupted by such efforts,” read the statement. The party has also appealed to all sections of people and organisations involved in the education sector to mobilise public opinion and force the government to ensure that the UGC withdraws the circular to uphold the unity of all linguistic and cultural groups of the country. The Jawaharlal Nehru University is likely to discuss on Friday the UGC proposal, a move that the varsity’s students’ union has opposed.