Sarba mum on Hindi, Yediyurappa opposes

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is mum even Karnataka counterpart B. S. Yediyurappa has openly opposed Hindi imposition and sided with his mother tongue Kannada.

Karnataka chief ministerB.S.Yediyurappa, on Monday, jumped into the 'One Nation, One Language' debate,countering the stand taken by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nationalleadership by stating that Kannada will remain the principal language in the state.

"All official languages in ourcountry are equal. However, as far as Karnataka is concerned, #Kannada is theprincipal language. We will never compromise its importance and are committedto promote Kannada and our state's culture," he posted from the chiefminister's official Twitter handle on Monday. He retweeted the post from hispersonal handle as well.

On the other hand, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has so far played safe and has not opened his mouth even as Axom Xahitya Xabha and the All Assam Student union (AASU) has opposed the reported suggestion of Union Home Ministry Amit Shah that India should have one language through Hindi.

According to some reports, theUnion Home Minister also said that Hindi would be made compulsory for thechildren of the NE region.

Reacting to the above assertion of the Union Home Minister, Axam Xahitya Sabha president Dr Paramananda Rajbongshi said that it is important for the leaders of the country to remember that the Indian states have been re-organized on the basis of the languages spoken by a majority of their peoples. Moreover, it is also pertinent to note here that mother tongue is the first language for the children in matters of their education.

Hindi or English should be taughtto the children of the country only after they learn the basics of theirvernacular languages. If this principle is not followed and Hindi is sought tobe imposed, the Axam Xahitya Sabha will not sit idle. It will vehemently opposesuch a move, warned Dr Rajbongshi.

All Assam Students' Union (AASU) has also opposed the above-reported move of the Union Home Minister to impose Hindi on the NE region.

AASU chief advisor SamujjalBhattacharyya has described the above move as an undemocratic and anti-nationalone. This move has struck at the core of the Indian constitution.

But Chief Minister of Assam hasso far been mum and preferred to toe the line of the boss and dump mothertongue.