Mumbai, Apr 22 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday hit back at his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin, asking him why he was “not open to multilingualism” and had a problem if someone wanted to study in Hindi.

Stating that the National Education Policy (NEP) never insisted or made compulsion on the choice of a language and only asks to study any two Indian languages other than English, Fadnavis also asked Stalin to first know what NEP exactly was.

Fadnavis’ response came a day after Stalin sought to know if the Centre endorsed Fadnavis’ position that no language other than Marathi was compulsory in that state as the third language under the NEP.

On April 16, the Maharashtra government’s school education department had issued a government resolution (GR), making Hindi compulsory as a third language for students of Classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools in the state. On Tuesday, the government, however, stayed the order in the wake of opposition to the move from various quarters.

Taking to X on Monday, Stalin said, “Facing a massive backlash for imposing Hindi as the third language, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis now claims that only Marathi is compulsory in the state. This is a clear manifestation of his trepidation over the widespread public condemnation against imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking States.” “Hon’ble PM and Union Education Minister must clarify – Does the Union Government officially endorse his position that no language other than Marathi is compulsory in Maharashtra as the third language under National Education Policy,” he asked.

“If so, will the Union government issue a clear directive to all states affirming that the NEP does not require the compulsory teaching of a third language?” the Tamil Nadu CM asked.

Responding to his post, Fadnavis said, “Mr Stalin, before seeking clarifications from Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, you need a deep understanding of National Education Policy. First you need to study what exactly NEP is!” He also posted a link of the central government’s website that gives information about the NEP.

“NEP never insisted or made compulsion on language choice but only asks to study any 2 Indian languages other than English, out of 3,” Fadnavis said.

“As far as Maharashtra is concerned, we are open to Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Sanskrit or any language of student’s choice which they wish to study as the third language. Main question is why are you not open to multi-lingualism and have a problem if someone wants to study in Hindi?” the Maharashtra CM said.

The Maharashtra government’s decision to make Hindi compulsory as a third language had met with stiff resistance from different quarters, including some opposition parties. PTI MR NP