Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on Friday, March 14, sided with the Union government in the ongoing ‘Hindi imposition’ debate. Speaking at the Jana Sena Party's 12th foundation day in Kakinada, he criticised Tamil Nadu for expecting people from northern India to work there while rejecting Hindi, stating that it was "time things changed."
“In Tamil Nadu, if people keep saying Hindi shouldn’t be brought in, I could only think of one thing. If you don’t want Hindi, don’t dub your movies in Hindi. You want money from Hindi speakers, from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Chattisgarh. But you don’t want Hindi? How is that fair?” Pawan said.
This is a shift in stance for the DyCM from earlier when he leaned left in his political career. In April 2017, he tweeted an Andhra Jyothy article titled ‘Hindi Go Back’ which in summary argues that while promoting Hindi wasn’t a problem, it shouldn’t come at the cost of regional identity and language. “North Indian political leadership should understand and respect the cultural diversity of our Country,” the DyCM had tweeted.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader TK Elangovan said that Pawan Kalyan’s statements are an attempt to gain something from the BJP-led Union government. The Andhra DyCM’s remarks come amid the Union’s ongoing tussle with the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government over the ‘three language formula’ which is a part of the BJP-led Union’s New Education Policy (NEP).
The Tamil Nadu government argues that the formula was an attempt to impose Hindi on Tamil speakers which eventually led to the Union depriving the state of Rs 2152 crore meant for the Samagra Shiksha scheme.
"We have been opposing Hindi since 1938. We passed legislation in the state Assembly that Tamil Nadu will always follow the two-language formula because of the advice and suggestions of the education experts, not actors. The bill was passed way back in 1968 when Pawan Kalyan was not even born. He doesn't know the politics of Tamil Nadu," Elangovan said.
Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the coalition with the BJP and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh.