Assam CM Clarifies On Imposition Of Hindi; Says No Order Received By State Govt

Guwahati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent comments regarding the imposition of Hindi language in the northeastern states by the Central Government has clearly not gone down well with some people and has led to a controversy.

Making Hindi language compulsory in the northeastern states was met with resistance and agitation in Assam with Opposition parties blatantly rejecting the move.

However, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has clarified by saying that the state government has not received any direction in this regard.

"Forget about compulsory, Assam government has not even received a letter asking Hindi to be made an optional subject in the schools. Amit Shah's statement has been misinterpreted," the CM said.

He added that the state government had planned to introduce a language policy which would focus on teaching at least four languages to the students of the state.

The CM went on to say that they want a student to learn Assamese, an ethnic language apart from Hindi and English in Assam and he concluded by saying that a student's opportunities will only expand by learning a language.

Ranoj Pegu, the education minister of Assam, said that the youths of the state will be able to work in other Hindu speaking states of the country by learning Hindi.

Meanwhile, the Leader of Opposition, Debabrata Saikia is clearly not on the same page and has said that the students would be confused if Hindi is made compulsory in schools.

"People of Assam already know how to speak Hindi. In schools also, students can learn Hindi if they want. Already as per the latest National Education Policy, now the students from ethnic tribes will have to learn their mother language besides the state's official language Assamese," Saikia said.

"Moreover, English is already there. Therefore, learning four languages at one time will only become a problem for the students," the Congress leader added.

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