Tamil Nadu higher education minister K Ponmudi on Friday stirred up a controversy after he said that those who are engaged “selling pani puri” are Hindi speaking people.
Addressing the 37th convocation the state-run Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) minister reiterated that the government is determined to follow the dual language policy of English and Tamil in the state.
“While English is an international language, Tamil is a local language. We were told that learning Hindi could land us with jobs. Is that so? You go and see in our state and in Coimbatore. Who are those people who sell pani puris?” Ponmudi said at the event which was also attended by governor R N Ravi. “(C N) Annadurai (DMK founder and former chief minister) strongly batted for English and Tamil. He used to tell a story about a person making two separate entrances for cats and rats. That person was told that the rat can also enter through the entrance made for cats. We are learning an international language, English. What is the need for other languages?” he added. The higher education minister made the remark while speaking on the implementation of “good” aspects of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 but reiterated that the state government will continue with the two-language policy. The NEP is based on a three-language formula.
Governor Ravi said “there is no question of imposition of Hindi or any other language on anyone”.
