Andhra Pradesh Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh said on Monday that he is planning to take legal action against Managing Director of Andhrajyothy, Vemuri Radhakrishna for his controversial editorial regarding English being introduced as the medium of instruction in all government-run schools. Andhrajyothy has often been accused of being close to the TDP.
In his weekend column, titled 'Hidden agenda in AP!' published in the newspaper on November 17, Radhakrishna had observed that the introduction of English could bring religious division in the state. He had claimed that the move was made to strengthen the ruling YSRCP by encouraging religious conversions. The column has received widespread criticism.
Reacting to this, the education minister said, “We are going to take legal action on this. You (Radhakrishna) cannot be so irresponsible. You cannot write all these things. The law will take its own course.”
Minister Adimulapu Suresh claimed that critics of the government had been focussing their vitriol on sand policy and English-medium instruction.
The minister noted, “It is extremely sad that they are giving a religious colour to education. We don’t understand this sort of thinking. I don’t know how they can attribute speaking in English to a religion or a community.”
The Andhra Pradesh government has announced that it will introduce English as a medium of education in all the government-run schools from the next academic year for classes 1 to 8, and then for classes 9 and 10 from the academic year 2021-22 onwards. A budget of Rs 12,000 crore has been allocated for this.
However, the Opposition parties TDP, BJP and Jana Sena have slammed the decision, stating that English-medium education could threaten the native Telugu language.
In his editorial, Radhakrishna speculated that the political intent behind the introduction of English education was to counter the BJP, which has been brazenly attacking Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on his Christian identity. He alleged that Jagan wants to lure the Backward Class community into Christianity through the introduction of English.